Sunshine
by buttertroll
Summary: A hormonal Shura is left in the care of Botan and Kurama.
1. Fox

Sunshine – Chapter 1: Fox

**OOOOO**

_Dearest Kurama,_

_As you may have already heard from Hiei, the current heir to Gandara, my son Shura, has developed somewhat of an attitude problem. Although parts of it may be credited to my lenience following the Makai Tournament and the paternal instinct to make one's child happy, you must also look upon the unusual circumstances of his birth. Shura is not an exact clone of myself, and though our physical appearances are alike, he is his own person. In his five years of life, he has developed at a much higher rate than a normal being would, this process is also linked to his engineering. His rapid growth was prearranged to end when he hits adolescence, or rather, three months ago._

_ Three months ago, my son reached the predisposed point in aging. I would say he resembles a human between fifteen to seventeen years of age. He has had no difficulty in maturing physically, but despite his tutoring (by both you and hired officials), he still has a very inappropriate—dare I say childish—mindset. He is very intelligent, as I have witnessed firsthand, but his maturity and sense of responsibility are… well… waning. He is, after all, only five years old and still has difficulty of grasping the concept that he is not above everything just because he is a prince._

_ Hiei, who I had mentioned earlier, has had his fair share of run-ins with my son at the borders of my own and Mukuro's territories. Shura, according to numerous members of Mukuro's guard, has been picking fights with the strongest demons in the patrol; killing or seriously wounding all whom rise to his challenge. Although not present all of the time, Hiei has been a wonderful help in keeping Shura's hormonal rages from causing too much damage. His recent ascension into the S-class has given Shura more of a challenge in battle, usually tiring him out before he can do any real harm. If you see Hiei, tell him I am sorry and I hope that this problem will be remedied soon. I have received several letters from both Mukuro and Enki, the former threatening to fix Shura on her own, and the latter more amused than angry at Shura's behavior but still warning me of what is to come if I can not control my son. I have tried everything a father possibly could do. All of these attempts have failed. I am worried; after all of the punishment and consequences he has endured, he has become so apathetic to life in Gandara. Other than the occasional outburst in the castle hallways, it is hard to get a reaction out of him when he is grounded. This is where you—the remedy—come into play._

_ I would like for you to more or less "play nanny" with Shura for about a year or so. Or when he gets his act together, whichever may come first. Yes, yes, I know what you are thinking, 'High level demons in the Ningenkai are severely frowned upon by the Reikai.' I have pulled several strings with Koenma, explaining the situation and whatnot. After all, a problem in the Makai will come to affect the Reikai in all due time. He has agreed to it, on several conditions:_

_ 1.) Shura must not be left unattended for more than thirty minutes_

_ 2.) When among humans, he must be within a five-meter radius of an official Reikai employee (Detective, ferry girl, oni, etc.)_

_ 3.) Special restraints administered by the Reikai must be warn while in the Ningenkai at all times_

_ Koenma and I are only awaiting your decision, and then we will make the required preparations. Neither of us are going to force you into this, it is your choice alone. I do not ask you as a king, but as a friend: please, help my son. I only have his happiness and well-being in mind._

_Yours truly,_

_Yomi_

_P.S. Yes, I know. It is odd to receive a letter from me. Under any normal circumstance, I would have sent one of my messengers to you. Koenma wishes this to stay as quiet as possible and I owe him my compliance. I did write this letter myself, before you wonder too much about it. I have long since prevailed over the handicap of loss of sight. _

Kurama re-read the last paragraph for the sixth time, putting on an uncharacteristic scowl that would give Hiei a run for his money. Setting the rest of his mail on the table, he flopped down onto the couch, clutching the ornate Makai letter to his chest.

_ 'Shura? Who, according to the letter, has had the adjectives angry, depressed, and egotistical added to his current description of an S-class demon prince… Live here?'_

The fox spirit let out a heavy sigh. It could be done. It also could be worse. At least he wouldn't have to lie about the origin of his visitor to his mother anymore, should she ask. He and the rest of the detectives had decided to tell all of their world-bound loved ones of the existence of the Makai and reveal the demonic identities of Yuusuke, Hiei, and himself. It had not been as horrid as he thought it would be. In the worst case scenario, which he had playing over and over in his head when they decided to tell, was that his mother would disown him. Even worse, fear him. The redhead let his mind wander back to that day; he had been invited over from his new apartment building, his mother not wanting him to become a stranger after he moved out. Telling them was not hard, but actually showing himself as Youko Kurama—he had felt ashamed for lying to them. His mother fainted, Mr. Hatanaka was very shocked, and Shuuichi believed it to be "the coolest thing ever". Although his family had accepted him, he did his very best to keep all acts of the paranormal to a minimum, no matter how many times his stepbrother would beg him to grow a forest in the middle of their home.

Having Shura there would not be too difficult, as he did live by himself now—save the kitten his mother gave him to "keep him company." The said kitten, Alfador, noticed his owner's plight and pounced into his uniform-clad lap. Kurama absentmindedly pet the white kitten, weighing the choices in his head. If he refused, Yomi would be displeased. Even though the king had said he would not force him into it, Kurama knew that he would be on Yomi's bad side if he declined. The King of Gandara had graciously forgiven him for blinding him all those years ago, but the youko knew that forgiveness would not come so easy when Shura is the one to be affected. If he accepted, which he was leaning toward anyway, Hiei would get a break from keeping the rowdy child out of Lady Mukuro's territory. Also, it would relieve both Yomi and Mukuro of the problems caused by the little prince.

Gently nudging Alfador off of his lap, Kurama made his way to his briefcase, pulling out his planner. Between classes at the university and work, he had only Sunday and Thursday completely free. On the other five days, he had most classes from nine to noon, work (kindly provided by his stepfather), and the occasional night class. Kurama looked at the letter again, _"When among humans, he must be within a thirty meter radius of an official Reikai employee (Detective, ferry girl, oni, etc.)"_

_ 'That probably means I won't be the only one assigned to watching him. Will he be here all day? Or will he be moved from place to place? I do not think that would be a good idea… 'Among humans.' Does that mean he's going to be placed into a school? Or just be allowed to wander around while supervised?' _Kurama thought to himself, frowning at all of the unanswered questions Yomi had left in his letter. _'I should call Koenma.'_

After years of assigning Botan to round up the four detectives, Koenma finally decided to give each of them a two-way "spirit phone," placing one in each of their more permanent residences. One at the Urameshi Noodle House, one in Mukuro's fortress, one in the Kuwabara household, one at Genkai's temple (where the four of them would frequently visit the old woman and Yukina), and one in Kurama's apartment. If all else failed, Botan would once again be sent out to play fetch. It was a rather intelligent choice on Koenma's part, and late is better than never.

Although the word phone may have been a bit of an understatement, more like a videophone or television. Sitting back down on the couch, Kurama picked up his remote and pressed the not-so-secret button labeled "RK." The screen immediately flashed a message ("Your Call is Being Directed") with a roughly sketched ferry girl flying on her oar across the bottom. Moments later, the upper body of a blue-skinned oni with blonde hair and a single horn on his forehead appeared on screen.

"Good evening, Kurama!" The oni, George Saotome, greeted good-naturedly, "What do you need here in Reikai?"

"Good evening to you also, George, I hope you are well," Kurama answered, trademark smile in place, "I would like to speak to Koenma and discuss the conditions regarding Prince Shura's stay here."

George's eyes dilated, "Not so loud!" He pressed closer to the screen and whispered, "Although Lord Koenma has sanctioned this, it is still very hush-hush." He took a furtive look his left, then to his right, then behind him. "Please try to keep it down. Lord Koenma, though in charge, could get into a lot of trouble if this were to become public knowledge. After all, _any_ demon, regardless of reason, in the Ningenkai is a _big_ no-no." After that whole fiasco with Lord Enma, the Reikai became much harsher in regards to misplaced demons. George shuddered at the memory. "Yuusuke was an exception to this rule because of his dedicated service to the Reikai, as are you and Yukina," the blue oni explained, practically reading Kurama's mind.

"Ah. Yes, well, may I please speak to Koenma?" the fox spirit asked, knowing George always got uncomfortable giving information that may make the little lord angry with him later.

"Y-yes. I was just about to suggest that. Please wait a moment," he said, before the screen reverted to the call-directing screen. The redhead frowned again. Knowing Koenma, it could take a million years for the little-big man to answer his call, much less acknowledge it.

Alfador jumped back up onto Kurama, who looked down at the kitten and stroked his fur affectionately. _'At least you don't ignore me,'_ he thought absently, watching the animal wiggle around under his touch.

"If only the Makai could see you now," a childish and somewhat mocking voice came from his television.

Kurama glared at the toddler form of Koenma, who had an amused smile on his chubby face, "Tell anyone of this and you will regret it," he growled, the irritation of his youko side voiced.

Koenma waved his small hands in front of the screen in panic, "No, no, no! Don't worry! Your secret is safe with me!" he quickly spat out, sweat appearing on his brow.

"See to it," Kurama said flatly, not liking anyone having a form of blackmail against him.

"Anyway, we have been expecting you to call," the toddler said, changing the subject.

Kurama had never frowned so many times in his life, "We?" he asked, giving Koenma an accusing look.

"Yes. We. Yoda and I," he said, leaning forward to adjust the focus of the screen.

The screen zoomed out from the top of Koenma's desk, now having the whole desk, a good portion of Koenma's paperwork, and an old demon Kurama had seen many times. The ancient and wrinkled analyst was short, with a burnt orange tint to his skin, two long white strands of mustache growing from above his mouth, white eyebrows growing down his face, and four stubs of horn sticking out of his balding head. He wore simple blue robes, sandals, and a smile.

"Hello, Kurama," he greeted in a gravelly voice. "Lord Koenma and I were just discussing the conditions in which our prince will be living while under your care."

"Under my care? You mean you've already made preparations?" Kurama asked, not believing that Koenma would do such a thing without getting his permission first.

"Erm… Well…" Koenma piped up, knowing he had been caught. "You see, I was willing to bet a lot on you agreeing to this," he said, trying to polish it up and save his rear end.

"You mean he has not agreed to it yet?" Yoda asked, amused.

"Well, no, he hasn't. But I knew he would! Isn't that why you called?" Koenma's voice was filled with panic.

Yoda, who decided that seeing Kurama angry was too good an opportunity to turn down, began to speak, "Seems to me, Kurama, that our lordling here was depending on your 'bleeding heart'." The smirk could be heard when he said the last two words.

"Silence!" the toddler ordered, standing on his desk and pointing his index finger at Yoda, as if it would make his head explode.

Kurama's eye twitched. He was now reminded of how much he could hate Koenma at times. He was not in the mood for this.

Koenma, who was held by the hem of his trousers at arm's length by Yoda, was swatting angrily at thin air, trying to land a punch on the old demon's nose, the shrieking of his high-pitched voice slowly piercing its way into Kurama's head.

"Stop it!" Kurama snapped, grimacing at the two who honestly should have known better.

Koenma opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by Kurama's raised hand.

Kurama took a deep breath, "Listen. I will gladly allow Shura to stay with me until he manages to…" Kurama trailed off. To what? Grow up? Quit being such a snot? "…Push his manners when involving others in a positive direction. If you would answer my questions regarding his stay, I will be ready for him to be here by tomorrow evening," he paused for a moment, "Yoda, please put Koenma down."

The toddler let out a sigh of relief when he was placed back onto the desk. Yoda, however, looked a little disappointed at Kurama's superb display of temper control.

"Excellent," said Koenma, smoothing out the wrinkles in his robes, "I will have Botan deliver a letter with all you need to know ASAP. Now that we have _your _permission, I bid you good night," he blurted out in a hurry, closing the connection between him and the aggravated youko as quickly as possible.

Kurama snarled at the television, his green eyes gleaming with a trace of gold. The way Koenma had said _'your'_ clearly stated that if Kurama had not called him, Shura would have been sent to his doorstep regardless of his opinion in the matter, and then Koenma would have hidden somewhere under Botan's pink kimono.

Alfador meowed worriedly, drawing Kurama's attention away from the television, "Heh. That Koenma…"

Too tired and too frustrated to move to his room, Kurama spread out on the couch, with none of the grace he was renowned for, and went to sleep.

**OOOOO**

The next morning, Kurama awoke with a slight pain in his back. He briefly wondered where it had come from, but was enlightened when the memories of last night came back to him. _'I am going to kill Koenma,'_ was his first coherent thought of the day.

"Good morning!" the perky voice of Botan sang right into Kurama's poor ear. "Get up, sleepy-head!" she sing-songed, shaking the red-haired man into complete awareness.

Sitting up, he rubbed his muddled head and ran a hand through his hair. A thought occurred to him. "Botan? What time is it?"

"A little after ten o'clock. Why do you ask?" she questioned, giving him an inquisitive look.

"Class!" he exclaimed, hopping up from the couch, knocking down both Botan and Alfador.

"But I thought you didn't have any classes on Sunday!" she shouted over the shuffling of papers Kurama was gathering.

"Sunday…" he said with a bit of awe in his voice. "You are right, Botan. I do not have classes on Sunday," he said mechanically, thinking of the many different ways he could hurt Koenma for causing him to be so jumbled on this fine Sunday morning—in front of Botan, no less, who was trying her hardest not to laugh.

Failing in her attempt, Botan let out a small giggle, "As Koenma had told you, I'm here with your letter!" she said happily, not particularly fearing the wrath of Youko Kurama. She stood up and smoothed out her kimono. "Now then…" she said, sticking her hand down the front fold of her outfit and pulling out an envelope, "Here you are!" she blurted out, handing him the fancy paper with a wax Reikai stamp sealing it shut.

"Thank you, Botan," he said, not forgetting his manners. After all, the blue-haired ferry girl had done nothing wrong. Even her less than peaceful greeting was just her bubbly self.

"You're welcome!" she answered, materializing her oar and making her way to the sliding balcony door, "I'll be over later this evening with Lord Koenma and the terrible tot. Until then, good day," she smiled, hopping on her oar and gliding into the sky.

Sitting down in his armchair, Kurama broke the wax seal on the letter and opened it.

_From the desk of Koenma, Hall of Judgement, Reikai:_

_Kurama,_

_ Botan, Shura, and I will be arriving at your house at nine o'clock tonight. If you have not taken the time to notice, I had George and a group of oni 'renovate' one of your more empty rooms into a suitable guestroom last night. According to them, you were sleeping quite peacefully. Still, I hope they did not disturb you much._

Kurama paused and furrowed his eyebrows; surely he would have woken up. Had he really fallen so out of form? Although he meant to stay in the human world until his mother passed away, he did not intend to develop the habit of not waking up when intruders were in his home—no matter how benevolent reason. Pondering this, he returned to the letter.

_ Shura will remain under your care until he has shown that he can return to the Makai without much fuss. He has been registered as your cousin, "Minamino, Shura," and will be attending Meiou High School, as you did before going to college. You may think this is a bad idea but I have discussed it with Yomi and we both think that human contact and relations will be more than likely beneficial to him. I know that you are wondering about Shura's appearance. Demons are able to mask their forms so that only those who have had contact with something of the spiritual or demonic worlds can see them. I trust you still remember Gouki and how he was able to walk freely among humans without anyone noticing his abnormalities. This will be the same in Shura's case. You also need not worry about finances—Shura has been given a sort of "credit card" linked to an account of his in Gandara to pay for anything he may need (please do not allow him purchase knives, guns, or any other implements that may cause harm to a person). You, though volunteering, will also be paid. Yomi considers this another lesson you will be tutoring._

_ During the times when you are unavailable to watch Shura, Botan will be keeping an eye on him. She, like Shura, has been registered under a false surname, "Nanami, Botan," and will also be attending Meiou. While you are at work or class and they are not in school, Botan will make sure Shura remains out of trouble. If he does try something, she has a device that will cause his wards to bind him in place, so do not worry. In case neither of you are available, I have a way of contacting Yuusuke and either of the Kuwabaras immediately, should the need arise. I do believe that is all you need to know. If you have any more questions, please ask me tonight._

_Koenma_

Kurama placed the letter on the coffee table and went to see the "renovations" George and company had given one of his rooms.

He had just moved into his new apartment two months ago, which was a twentieth birthday gift from his stepfather, who had overheard him talking to Shiori about moving out when he attended college. The penthouse was a bit much, even for his stepfather, but Hatanaka had said he had a lot of faith on his stepson's future income as a doctor. Kurama had no doubts in his mind about his choice in career, though it had taken him a while to convince himself he could balance college with work. After all, he was the one who pieced the rest of the detectives back together when neither Botan or Yukina were present to do so, his unrivaled knowledge in medicinal plants giving the team an advantage in the battlefield. Though his skills as a doctor were great in the eyes of his teammates, he still had to go to college and prove it to his professors, which was not only time-consuming—it was also very stressful.

After checking the two empty rooms next to his own (_'Really,' _he thought, _'this apartment is too big for me.'_), he tried the one across the hallway. Instead of white carpet and a few meager furnishings, this room was outfitted with a bed, nightstand, lamp, and dresser drawer. It had a navy and cream color scheme—apparently oni knew how to interior decorate.

Shutting the door, Kurama decided to go clean up and visit Genkai. The old woman's shrine could offer him solace for the rest of the day, and perhaps serve to trounce the annoyance he felt towards the Reikai.

**OOOOO**

The doorbell rang right on time, and the youko in human disguise rose from his seat and went to answer the door. The sight that greeted him was one he was not accustomed to seeing.

There Koenma and Botan stood, Koenma in his normal teen robes with his round blue pacifier moving lazily around in his mouth, and Botan opting to try out her new school uniform. Between them was a very familiar looking youth. Shura glared up at Kurama, contempt in his pink eyes. He certainly had changed from the small demon child the redhead remembered from his tutoring sessions years ago. The prince reached Kurama's nose in height, his black hair had grown to frame his face in the front, and the horn that peaked through his hairline looked as if it had gotten sharper. He wore a simple white T-shirt and blue jeans. Around his neck and wrists resided leather-looking black bands, most likely that wards Yomi and Koenma had referenced. If one subtracted the horn, rose-colored eyes, and elfin ears, they would only see a normal, if somewhat angry, teenager.

"Good evening Koenma, Botan…" he paused, a bit uncomfortable in the unyielding glower of the young prince, "…Shura. It's been a while since I've seen you. I see you've grown into quite the pleasant young man."

The 'pleasant young man' snorted and intensified his glare.

_ 'So much for pleasantries…' _Kurama thought wryly, ushering the three of them into his home.

"Would any of you like something to drink?" he asked, host manners kicking in.

"Botan and I can only be here for a little while," Koenma answered for both himself and Botan, who pouted. She was hoping to stay longer.

"What about you, Shura?" the youko asked the prince, who had made himself comfortable on the blue couch.

"…No," he grumbled, glaring at the coffee table, which, if animated and given free will, would have cowered and ran.

"Alright then," Koenma said, breaking the tension that had set itself in the air, "Kurama, if you have no questions, I will see you later," the brown-haired lordling said, heading toward the door.

"And I will be here tomorrow morning to escort Shura to school," Botan added as she waved her hand and materialized a box. "This here is his uniform, along with spares," she said, handing the box to Kurama.

With that, the blue-haired girl turned to Shura with a large smile on her face, "Tomorrow after school the girls and I are going to take you _shopping!_" she squealed, glee only a female could express saturating the final word of her exclamation.

Shura visibly flinched, but said nothing, although his eyes had a hint of fear to them after hearing Botan's delighted proclamation.

"I will see both of you tomorrow!" she cheerfully bubbled, bidding them goodbye and following her boss out the front door.

"This is so unnecessary…" Shura muttered, unaware that Kurama heard him.

**OOOOO**

**Comments:** Thought of on a whim, but I find myself falling in love with this story for some reason or another. I've always thought Shura was a cute little snothead.


	2. Prince

Sunshine – Chapter Two: Prince

**OOOOO**

_'…Damn.'_ Was the first thought Shura welcomed the day with, wondering what he had consumed the night before that could have given him such a horrible dream. Although, as awful as it had been, it was set apart from the rest of his dreams. Not yet wanting to greet the day, his eyes remained closed and he thought upon it, strange that it had not been ripped from his mind when he had awoke like so many other nightmares.

**OOOOO**

"Papa…" Shura said, voice tinged with both anger and grief. "You… You…" he could not seem to voice his feelings of betrayal. "This is just a joke? …Right?" he asked the blind man hopefully, but deep down inside knowing that this was one of the inevitable consequences of his reckless actions. However, he had never imagined his father would suggest something like this—it was ludicrous! He was a prince! And this particular prince did not want to go live with some deceitful, back stabbing, youko traitor in addition to actually breathing the same air as humans.

Stupid Hiei. Stupid guards. Insipid and cowardly bastards running away to tattle to Lady Mukuro and hide between her breasts from the Big Bad Prince of Gandara. Shura just_ knew_they were the ones behind this. _'I'll take care of them when I get back,'_ he thought darkly, smirking at the grim future he had in store for Mukuro's guard.

"While we're at it, you may as well forget whatever malicious and devastatingly evil plans of revenge you have for Mukuro's heir and wipe that damn smirk off your face," the blind king addressed his son sternly, his mind easily reading Shura's countenance.

The boy jumped at his father's order and immediately straightened up. He knew he should not have been so surprised that Yomi had seen his smirk. His father had been blind for nearly 800 years, and since then has gained an almost omnipotent sense of perception—almost as if he was not blind at all.

"It's not a joke, is it?" Shura asked again, still knowing the answer but needing to hear it from his father's mouth to crush that last flicker of hope in the back of his mind.

"No, Shura, it is not. This is a very serious matter. I honestly do not know what to do with you anymore," Yomi answered, sounding pained, the unspoken question of_ 'Where did I go wrong?_' hanging somewhere on the king's tongue.

_ "_Why can't you ground me like you normally do? I don't want to go live with that stupid youko!" Shura exclaimed, but immediately covered his mouth with his hands. He had not meant to voice his opinion of Kurama in front of his father. He was infuriated at, and jealous of, how_ his _Papa would speak so highly of the youko, even though that same youko had stabbed him in the back and subsequently blinded him. Shura just did not understand. He braced himself for his father's outburst in the Kurama's defense. Surprisingly, it did not come.

The seven-horned demon put on a melancholy smile, "I understand your refusal of this situation and I wish there was another way. I have tried everything and I still cannot see where I went wrong. Am I a bad father?" he said, whispering that last part more to himself than to Shura.

"Papa… Don't make me go. I promise I won't do anything like that ever again," he said, its familiarity ringing in his ears. How many times has he said that? Five? Ten? This time he really meant it. Really! Anything was better than living with that horrible youko.

Yomi let out a sigh as those habitual excuses went through his head—this time they sounded so sincere.

"You are going and that is final," he said aloud, so firmly that there was absolutely no opening given for Shura to disagree.

Shura, hearing the conclusiveness of the statement, didn't even try, "Yes, sir," he answered, going over to his bed and flopping face-first into a pillow to sulk.

Yomi's permanently closed eyes moved in what only could be described as a flinch. Not only had he not expected his son to go down without a fight, Shura had never called him "sir." He frowned—that was not right. He had always been "Papa". Slowly, the king moved across the room to where Shura had positioned himself and put a tentative hand on his shoulder. "Shura…" he began, but was interrupted by his son, who writhed around and shrugged the hand off his shoulder.

"Go away," the single horned boy said, curling up into a ball and trying to get as far away from Yomi as possible.

"I have a meeting to attend to, so I will not be able to see you off. Goodbye, Shura. You know I love you."

"Whatever…" Shura said in a dismissive manner, pressing his face into one of his many feather pillows.

"I suggest you get some rest," Yomi said quietly, sounding almost afraid of getting another cold remark from his son, "Someone from the Reikai will be here in a few hours to take you to the Ningenkai."

Silence was Shura's response, not wanting his father to hear the tears in his wavering voice.

The king reached out to pat his invaluable little prince on the head, but at the last second decided against it, dropping his hand as he silently left the room.

Falling into an uncomfortable sleep shortly afterward, Shura was roused by a tapping on his door, "Go away!" he grumbled loudly, thinking it was his father.

"I must apologize, my prince, but I cannot obey your orders this time," responded the familiar and rueful voice of Yoda, who, though sympathetic, found his king's son to be frustratingly hostile at times. "I have a few things to give you before you leave for the Ningenkai."

Shura sat up and scowled, rubbing at his puffy eyes, "Come in," he said, even though he knew his permission was not needed.

The short, stubby horned demon entered the room, followed by a girl Shura had never seen before. She was much taller than Yoda and wore a bright pink kimono. Her sky blue hair was pulled back in a ponytail and, upon closer inspection, it could be determined that her eyes were a purplish shade of pink. Magenta maybe? Shura did not care.

"Shura?" Yoda questioned, just to be sure that the boy had not fazed out into his own little world—something he had fallen into the habit of doing these past arduous weeks.

Shura's eyes narrowed, "What?"

Ignoring the coldness in which he was acknowledged, the eldest demon continued, "I've brought you human clothes to change into," he said, walking over to where the prince sat and handing him the clothing.

Shura looked down at the garments in disgust. Blue pants made out of some rough material, white shoes, white socks, and a white shirt with short sleeves. "I am not wearing these!" he said vehemently. He liked his cotton robes and slippers!

"It is not up for discussion," Yoda said in final tone, giving Shura a scathing look.

"Fine," the prince answered angrily, glaring at both Yoda and the girl, "Are both of you just going to stare at me?" he questioned hotly, "Turn around!" he ordered, mumbling something under his breath about rude people as he slipped on the foreign clothing.

"You can turn around now," he said once he finished dressing in the unfamiliar garments.

"You look wonderful," Yoda said, pitying Shura, as this particular set of human clothing was so plain looking and rather unfitting for a prince. He pulled out a plastic looking blue card out of his robes, "This card is directly linked to your account in Gandara. You are to use it for necessities_ only_," he said, stressing the last word.

"Yeah, yeah…" Shura said, pocketing the card. He wasn't a baby. "Is this all?" he asked aloud.

"For now. This is Miss Botan, a ferry girl from the Reikai," Yoda said, gesturing a hand in the anonymous girl's direction, "She will be the one to take you to the Ningenkai. She will also be your escort for any event Kurama will be unable to attend."

The girl, Botan, smiled and bowed politely, "The 'Miss' will not be necessary. It makes me sound old."

Shura arched his eyebrows, if she was in fact a spirit guide, there was probably no way she would be younger than one hundred. With his better judgment, he decided it would be best not to voice that little bit of logic.

"I will leave the two of you to on your own now. Farewell, my prince," the short demon said, exiting the room.

"How exactly are we going get to the Ningenkai? Isn't there a barrier now?" Shura asked, turning his attention to his new babysitter.

"We're going to have to take a detour to the Reikai," Botan said. "You know, pick up Koenma and your wards," she noted the frown on the prince's face, "I really am sorry, Shura, but high level demons are supposed to be warded while among humans. You are a very special case, you know."

She really did sound sincere. Nevertheless, from what he knew about females (his theories all based on Lady Mukuro), he could not bring himself to trust the blue-haired girl. "Hmph," he answered, but was somewhat flattered that the Reikai thought he was actually a problem worth monitoring.

She walked over to the balcony door and opened it, stepping out to the platform overlooking the city. "Let's be on our way," Botan said cheerfully, summoning her oar and mounting it.

Shura gazed at her, unknowingly dropping his jaw, "We're going on… That!"

"Of course we are, silly," she giggled, "What were you expecting? A magic carpet?"

Shura gave her a blank stare.

"It's not polite to keep Koenma waiting," she chirped, noting that Shura was still gawking at her in disbelief. "Well, hop on!" she patted the spot behind her.

Cautiously, he approached the oar, "It's safe, right?"

"Of course! There's nothing to be afraid of! I do this all of the time!" she said, patting Shura on the head comfortingly, "I'll go slow if you'd like…"

"Don't patronize me," he said, glaring at her.

Instead of cowering in fear like any normal creature, she laughed. She_ laughed. _"How cute! You scowl like Hiei," Botan cooed, wanting to pinch his cheeks.

"Don't touch me either," he said, taking a wary step back when he saw her hands move toward him.

The ferry girl pouted, "You're no fun…"

"How exactly am I supposed to ride this thing?" Shura asked, changing the subject.

"Well, you can either sit to the side like me, or straddle it like you would a horse," she replied.

"So… It's just like riding a horse?" the prince questioned, hoping it would relate somehow—he had some experience with horses.

"You could say that."

Shura took another tentative glance at the wooden oar, "Okay…" he said, trying to convince himself that he would not plummet to his death within the next few minutes.

"It's not so scary after taking off," Botan offered to Shura's uneasy face.

"I'm _not_scared," he said angrily, shifting his expression from nervous back to irritated.

_ "_I never said you were," the ferry girl cooed, "I just thought I'd inform you…"

'I'll show _her_ who's scared…' Shura thought, stomping over to the oar and mounting it with a determined look.

"All situated?" Botan asked, looking over her shoulder at the young passenger.

"Yes," he grunted, wanting to get the whole ordeal over with quickly.

"Great!" Botan exclaimed while quickly turning around, whipping Shura in the face with her ponytail, "You may want to hold on to me," she said, taking another glance behind her, "Since you_ aren't _scared, I'm going to go pretty fast."

Shura frowned at the blatant sarcasm in her declaration of his bravery. Just as he was about to voice his disgust, the oar shot up into the heavens, temporarily stealing his ability to speak.

The air racing past them was cold and very powerful, causing Shura's eyes to glaze over and tear up. Trying to receive as little of the brunt as possible, he ducked his head behind Botan's back. This successfully saved his eyes from watering but stray strands of blue hair kept lashing out at his face, causing him to sneeze.

The sudden motion brought his head down so he could look to the ground below—something he had been trying to avoid for sake of his ego.

It seemed that they were miles above the ground, Gandara now just a tiny speck barely seen through the thick blanket of clouds. Shura's eyes bulged as he let out a faint yelp, clung to Botan's waist, and pressed his face into her shoulder as far as it would go—he had always hated heights.

Botan mouth tilted up at the ends to form a small smile. Mercifully, she slowed down, feeling Shura relax against her and breathe a sigh of relief. Grateful for this act of benevolence, the prince decided that he would keep quiet for the rest of the trip. With effort, he repressed the homicidal urges he was experiencing when he felt the ferry girl's shoulders move in what could only be a silent chuckle at his expense.

Soon his surroundings became very unfamiliar, the dark red evening sky of the Makai paling to a light pink hue. Rocky, spiraling mountains stuck up from the ground. Below, the River Styx twisted and turned in a snake like path around them. Placed almost exactly in front of the setting sun was a giant palace, seemingly ablaze with the dying rays of light.

When they were within the castle walls, Botan guided the oar down to the _ground and motioned for Shura to get off._

Still shaken from the ride over, Shura swaggered a few meters away from the evil piece of wood and tired to dispel the feeling of nausea churning around in his stomach.

"Are you okay? I really am sorry if I went too fast… You look a little green," Botan observed, hopping off her oar and holding it to her shoulder like one would a baseball bat. With a nod in Shura's direction, she made her way over to the large palace doors.

"I'm _fantastic_," he grumbled coldly, following his chauffeur and attempting to glare a hole in the back of her head.

The entrance of the palace led to a dimly lit and very sinister looking corridor. Shura, expecting the gloomy surroundings, never would have guessed what would be behind the door at the end of the dismal hall.

"Right this way!" Botan chirped, her voice echoing down the hall as she pressed the button for the speaker next to the mechanical door. She leaned down so her mouth was only a few inches away from the receiver, "Botan here! The 'special package' and I are here to see Koenma."

The package's eye twitched.

As he made a motion in preparation to tell her off, the door suddenly slid open. Bright, florescent lights attacked Shura's pupils, shrinking them to tiny black dots, causing him to squint his eyes in pain and forget any notion he had about yelling at the ferry girl.

Once his eyes adjusted to the light and the blinding white burnt into the back of his eyelids faded away, he slowly took in the bizarre sight before him.

The room was large with blue-green tiled floors, the sheen of the reflected lights making it glow. Wooden desks and chairs were scattered in rows, mountains of paper work and other odds-and-ends dotted on and in between them, a clear surface to place a random thing very rare. Oni in all the colors of the rainbow frantically scuttled about, each with anywhere from one to ten horns evenly placed upon their balding heads. Most of the panicked creatures held what appeared to be no less than several tons of paper work in their arms, disappearing into a random room and reappearing seconds later only to run back to a desk to grab another armful. This was not exactly what Shura had expected the afterlife to look like.

Noting Shura's dumbfounded look but choosing to forgo a comment, Botan poked him out of his reverie, "Follow me."

The prince closed his mouth and followed Botan through the throng of onis and massive paper mountains to the back of the room where another hallway branched off. Unlike the previous hallway, this one looked almost exactly like the room that led to it, minus the desks and clutter.

Not pausing to knock on the door, Botan flung it open with a well-placed swing from her oar, "We're here!" she exclaimed to the peak of a blue hat hidden behind yet another stack of papers.

"Ah. I was expecting you two," said the voice behind the papers, hopping down to the floor in front of the desk to reveal himself as nothing more than a toddler in a blue robe with an oversized, pink-rimmed hat. "I have already sent George to go and fetch the wards. I am hoping we will be able to set off for Kurama's in under an hour," he stated around his spherical blue pacifier.

Shura, silent up until now, blinked a couple times in confusion before voicing his bewilderment, "YOU'RE Koenma?" he asked in utter disbelief, vaguely remembering a man in the tuxedo that his father had pointed out to him at the Makai Tournament, "You're just a baby!"

"The one and only," Koenma answered, becoming irritated at howincredulous Shura seemed, "And though I may appear to be the age you _actually are_," he began, scathing, "I happen to be far, far older, and would therefore require a little more respect from a mere child such as yourself."

The Prince of Gandara snorted loudly, "What are you going to do?" he paused, smirking down at the pint-sized ruler, "Throw your dirty diapers at me?"

"Why you—" Koenma started, stalking over to Shura.

The horned boy's smirk grew wider as he pulled back his right leg, readying himself to punt Koenma across the room when the angered deity was close enough.

"Now, now boys!" Botan interjected, dropping her oar and sweeping Koenma into her arms in a parody of a doting mother and an angry child, "Try and be civil. I know both of you are more mature than that," she scolded.

Shura made a face and stuck out his tongue at Koenma behind the ferry girl's back. Koenma fumed. "He started it!" the toddler yelled, pointing at the other prince over Botan's shoulder.

"Mmm-hmm," Botan said, not really agreeing or disagreeing as she set her disgruntled boss back down on the floor.

"Lord Koenma! I'm back with the wards!" A rough voice echoed through the hall before its owner ran through the door. It was another office oni. He wore a leopard print cloth around his waist and had light blue skin with blond hair framing the sides of his bald head. Like Shura, he had only one white horn, although it was higher up on his skull. He held a brown cloth bag in his right hand and had several rectangular boxes pressed between his side and left arm.

"Excellent, George," Koenma said in praise as he turned from the oni to Shura and narrowed his brown eyes, "Let's see how high and mighty you act with these on."

If it were anyone more than two feet tall, Shura may have actually been intimidated.

"You must be Prince Shura," the blue oni said, approaching the boy. "You sure have grown since the last time I've seen you," he rambled, "It was such a pity you had to fight against your father in your first match…" He pulled out a ring of black material from the bag he held in his hand and passed it to Shura, "Put this on one of your wrists."

Shura let out a hopeless sigh and complied as he listened to George chatter on about the Makai Tournament. He had to admit that he was still irritated in regards to that unfortunate match up. At the time, he was no match for his father, not even with all of the tricks he pulled.

When they were finished, Shura had five black wards on him: two on his wrists, two around his ankles, and one around his neck. "Don't think that just because my energy is suppressed I'm completely helpless and will bend to your command," he addressed to no one in particular, glaring down at the floor.

Botan sighed, "We wouldn't dream of exploiting you. This is just so you won't accidentally hurt any civilians."

Shura knew damn well that the blue haired girl was lying to him. 'It's because I would have blown up anyone who would dare boss me around. I bet Kurama's going to have a fucking field day,' he thought.

"We still have plenty of time before we have to be there," Koenma said, facing George, "Have him try on the uniform as well."

_ 'Oh, lovely. A uniform._' Shura thought unenthusiastically, but without the usual rage that had been lining his thoughts throughout the day. If there was one thing that did not piss him off about this whole ordeal… Well, everything about it pissed him off. However, the one thing he didn't feel as angry about was the fact that he had to go to a human school. Sure, he had to be around the stupid things, but it's not like they could bother him or anything. They had to go there to learn. Therefore, they would be preoccupied with that task instead of annoying Shura with their existence. He, being the already well-educated prince that he was, could just tune out everything and take a nap or something. Yes, school would probably be his only reprieve from this heinous turn of events.

George handed him the top box under his arms; the rest were probably just spares.

Botan made a happy noise. Something between a squeal and a laugh. Regardless, it frightened Shura. "I'm going to go try mine on, too!" she said, bouncing out of the room.

'Hers?' Shura thought. A look of horror crossed his face as Yoda's voice rang through his head_, **'She will be the one to take you to the Ningenkai. She will also be your escort for any event Kurama will be unable to attend.****'** 'There goes my reprieve for the day…'_ he thought dourly, his mind providing him with an image of the annoying ferry girl chatting away excitedly while his head begins to swell and then explode in a mushroom cloud of blood, skull fragments, tissue, and gray brain mass. The thing that depressed Shura the most is that she wiped his blood off her cheek and kept on talking while his headless body hit the ground with a thud. Shuddering, he opened the box that contained his uniform, 'At least it can't get any worse…' he thought bitterly.

That notion was put to rest the moment he caught a glimpse of the contents within the box.

"IT'S_PINK_!" he shouted at Koenma, who at once took cover behind his blue servant.

"Lord Koenma, he has the wards on. He can't harm you…" George whispered to the Prince of the Reikai.

Shura's pointy ears picked up that last comment, which only further enraged him, his temper only having a hair trigger. The stress from the nerve-racking events of the day had finally caught up to him and detonated, "LIKE HELL I CAN'T!" The horned prince screamed, lunging for Koenma's living shield and wrapping his hands around the oni's thick neck, his sharp nails digging into the blue flesh.

"Ko-Koenma…" George rasped out to his panicking lord, "In t-the bag…" was all he managed to get out as Shura continued to asphyxiate him.

Koenma lunged for the bag that George had dropped, sticking his small hand inside and looking for whatever the oni had been trying to inform him of. Finding something, Koenma yanked it out and looked at it. "Eureka!" he exclaimed happily, despite the fact that a maverick prince was still strangling his employee. The device he pulled out was similar to a control device that humans would call a 'shock collar.' It was simply a small black box with a classic "big red button" centered on the face. One just needs to press it hard enough and…

Shura's screamed as he released his hold on George's neck and hugged himself, falling to the floor curled up in a ball.

The blue oni fell to his hands and knees panting while Koenma let out a sigh of relief.

"I'd say it is more of a dark salmon than anything…" George panted out with a small laugh.

Koenma bopped him on the head like he has done so many times before, "How in the seven rings of hell can you joke about this!"

About two feet away, the collapsed prince chuckled—perhaps the blue oni wasn't too bad.

"He's twitching! Oh God, George! I killed him!" Koenma exclaimed, his mind fretting over where he could hide the body.

"Yomi is going to raise holy hell…" George added as an afterthought. "Do you think the Makai might start a war?" he asked fearfully.

"Don't say things like that!" the toddler scolded, running over to Shura as fast as his little legs would carry him.

Shura stayed as still as possible waiting for the right moment. He felt Koenma's small fingers wrap around his hand, which had fallen to cover his face. Revenge was indeed best served cold. "Boo!" Shura shouted, causing the smaller prince to jump into the air and scream.

"Argh!" Koenma growled, not liking the fact that Shura was now laughing uncontrollably at his plight. He would show him… Taking the ward control in his hand, he punched at it, venting his anger on the big red button.

When Shura was not screaming in pain, he was laughing to the point of tears. Over his own howls of either joy or agony, he could vaguely hear the frustrated voice of Botan.

"Give me that!" Botan. Probably snatching the small black box.

"Ow!" Koenma. Apparently, she had smacked him a good one.

When his vision became a little less hazy, the first thing he saw was a pair of black dress shoes. They were shiny, single strapped, and had legs growing out of them. He followed the appendages of the shoes up until they went into a knee-length salmon pleated dress, which then went up to a same colored long-sleeved sailor top with a yellow ribbon tied around the collar. Perched on top of that was Botan's head. What was it doing all the way up there?

"Do you need help getting up?" she asked.

"No. I'm fine," Shura lied. Those wards hurt like a bitch. Even so, he supposed it was worth it. In the short time Shura had known Koenma, he decided that making the other prince angry is what he would strive for while in each other's company.

"You don't have to worry about me using the controller as," she paused, looking for the right word, "impulsively as Koenma does. As long as you don't hurt any humans, I will not use it at all."

Koenma pouted from the other side of the room in a sort of 'time-out'.

Shura glanced at him; he had his arms crossed and was moping, which looked oddly familiar to Shura somehow. He also noticed that the toddler had a large bump on his forehead. Shura smirked. Koenma made a rude hand gesture.

Botan sighed again. "Both of you…" she started, but decided that it was not worth the effort to finish. "Shura, just try on the uniform. I'll meet both of you at the front entrance," she instructed in an irritated tone. Despite Koenma's title, it was slightly obvious to see who wore the pants around the Reikai when Enma was nowhere to be found.

Nothing worthwhile was truly spoken between then and the period spanning until they reached the Ningenkai. Shura's uniform, despite his protests, remained pink, and all five of the atrocious pieces of clothing were placed in a single box, which Botan mysteriously made disappear. The three of them arrived outside of Kurama's apartment door at nine o'clock sharp. Once there, Koenma shifted to his adult form, allowing Shura to make the connection between the man in the tuxedo at the tournament and Koenma himself.

"Who's the young one now?" the Reikai prince asked, looking down at Shura and smiling around his pacifier.

Shura gnashed his teeth together, sourly noting that Koenma was now more than a head taller than he was.

Koenma's smile fed off Shura's anger and got wider. Slowly, he extended his finger to press the doorbell.

The soft padding of feet on carpet floors could be heard approaching the door. Locks on the other side clicked and the door gently opened, the soft glow of a foyer lamp escaping into the night.

There the human form of the great thief Youko Kurama stood, looking the same as Shura had remembered him. Kurama was still taller than Shura, which displeased him greatly. Stupid youko. The same stupid red hair was still there, only longer. His stupid green eyes glimmered in the cold moonlight, warming up when he placed his gaze on his two friends. "Good evening Koenma, Botan…" he paused as his stupid green eyes met with Shura's most scathing glare, reserved especially for stupid, back stabbing youkos, "…Shura. It's been a while since I've seen you. I see you've grown into quite the pleasant young man."

_ 'Pleasant young man my ass.' _Shura snorted,_ 'Fuck you, you stupid old fox.' _He thought, but deep down inside knew he had better not rile Youko Kurama too much. If he could not safely voice his disgust, he would just glare some more.

Seemingly unaffected by Shura's coldness, he stepped out of the way and guided the three into his home.

"Would any of you like something to drink?" Kurama asked.

"Botan and I can only be here for a little while." Shura heard Koenma answer as he flopped down on a blue couch, trying to get comfortable. After all, he was going to be here for a long time.

"What about you, Shura?" the soft voice of "Shuuichi Minamino" asked the prince.

_ 'Only if it involves you sticking your head in the blender, setting it on "purée", and dying.' _He desperately wanted to answer, but settled for an impolite, "…No," and tried to glare a hole into the stupid fox's stupid coffee table. That would show him for accepting Yomi's offer.

"Alright then," Koenma said a few minutes later, "Kurama, if you have no questions, I will see you later."

"And I will be here tomorrow morning to escort Shura to school," Botan piped up, materializing the rectangular box that held his uniforms and handing it to Kurama, "Here is his uniform, there are several spares in here as well."

She turned to Shura with big smile on her face, "Tomorrow after school the girls and I are going to take you **shopping!**"

The way she said that last word honestly frightened Shura. Thank God this was all only a dream.

"I will see both of you tomorrow!" she said, waving and following Koenma out the door.

"This is no unnecessary…" Shura muttered after the gruesome twosome had left.

"It is your own fault," Kurama said. "What possessed you to think that you could act that way? Is it because you're a prince? I honestly cannot believe the Yomi I know would not dicipline you."

Shura, angry that he was not the one doing the verbal bitch-slapping, stalked up to the stupid youko, got up on his tip-toes and tried to look as intimidating as possible, "You obviously don't know my father, so DON'T bring him into this. I can act however I please."

Kurama looked down at Shura and narrowed his eyes.

"And why is that?" The youko asked, looking smug.

"Because I can," he answered. That was Shura's justification for everything.

"Does that make it right?" he asked, "I hired an assassin for your father all those years ago because I could. You would not even be here if the coward had not fled because he was losing. He was scared of a pathetic man that he had only just blinded. He ran away because he could."

"Shut up!" Shura yelled, so blinded by anger that he threw a punch that Kurama easily dodged. What surprised Shura the most is that he returned it. Even more surprising was that it hurt.

"Listen Shura, I'm sorry about hitting you, but you're being childish," he turned away from his houseguest, and made his way to the kitchen—God, he neededa drink, alcoholic or otherwise. "Your room is the single one on the left side of the hallway over there. I'll see you in the morning. Good night." He growled the last part, the youko side of him slipping past the human aspect.

Shura cupped his cheek, which was now tender, but would probably not bruise, "I hate you," he said simply, stalking off to find his temporary sanctuary for the length of his stay.

**OOOOO**

Before he could ponder the rest of his dream, an alarm clock screeched and broke his train of thought.

"Alarm clock?" he asked aloud. He owned no alarm clock. He would get up when he was damn well ready.

Shifting around in the comforter, Shura managed to reach out and shut the offending device off. When he did, he noticed that there was a very familiar looking leather band around his wrist.

"No…" he said in disbelief, looking around him. It was the same room he had entered in his dream.

The same clothes he had received from Yoda in the dream were now on his body. "This is not happening…" he whispered, pinching himself on the same cheek the fox demon had punched in his dream.

"Ow!" How could that possibly have hurt him? It was only a light pinch—just hard enough so he would wake up to his bed in Gandara, in his pajamas, without an alarm clock.

Shura waited patiently in the bed, watching the light from the Ningenkai sun filter into his room through the window. It finally donned on him that this was, in fact, all real. He took deep, calming breaths. In and out. In and out. With one final intake of breath, he opened his mouth…

**OOOOO**

"ARRRRGH!" Shrieked a loud voice, muffled by the barrier of several walls, but still articulated enough to echo through the apartment and possibly several floors below.

A surprised Botan, who had arrived only minutes prior, spit her tea out all over her red-haired host's face.

Kurama sighed and refilled the ferry girl's cup, "I think Shura's awake…" He said in a monotone, standing up to go get himself a napkin.

**OOOOO**

**Comments: **Toned down the profanity. It's not really that funny when you're my age. Or something.


	3. Psychopomp

Sunshine – Chapter Three: Psychopomp

**OOOOO**

"Now what would make you think that?" Botan joked with a nervous voice, pulling out a bright yellow handkerchief from somewhere in her uniform, "Here, use this," she told Kurama, handing it to him when she saw that there were no napkins in sight.

"Thank you," he said, gratefully accepting the hankie and wiping the lukewarm substance off his face. He would have to explain the rule of inside and outside voices to Shura when the two of them moved on to better terms.

"He seems much angrier than I thought he would be," the ferry girl mused, "Did anything happen last night?"

Kurama sighed, "I kicked him around—verbally," Kurama lied, upon seeing Botan's frown, "and struck a bit of a weak spot."

He finished wiping his face, "I'll have this cleaned and back to you tomorrow," Botan nodded in regard and he continued, "Apparently he doesn't like me talking about his father so casually."

"You're damn right I don't," a new voice added to the conversation. "You and he are _not_ friends. I don't care what he said to you about _forgiveness_, because it isn't true," he growled, accenting the word "forgiveness" with a clear disgust.

"Good morning, Shura," Botan greeted pleasantly in an attempt to distract the prince from another argument with Kurama.

Shura glared at her, "Don't try to shift the topic. _ He _needs to be put in his place." The prince set himself into a battle stance.

"Erm, Kurama?" Sweat appeared on Botan's brow, "Didn't you say you had to _go_ to class _early _this morning?" she asked.

Shura silently fumed. He _hated_ to be ignored.

"I did, didn't I? The professor's offering extra credit…" he mused aloud, brushing past the raging prince and into the living room and picking up everything he needed for the day.

"I should be back before the both of you return from school. Thank you for reminding me, Botan!" he called back into the kitchen, the sound of a closing door following his voice.

Shura's eyelids slid down over his eyes as he took in a very deep breath. As much as it seemed like trashing Kurama's apartment and killing both Botan and the youko would solve all of his problems, it would probably only make them worse.

Something brushing up against his legs threw him out of his contemplation. "What the hell is that?" Shura asked, scowling down at his feet to see a furry quadruped walking between his legs in figure eights.

"It's a cat," Botan answered simply, taking a sip of what was left of her tea.

Shura glared at her again. "I _know _that," he said acidly, squatting down to glare at the cat directly in the eye, "but what's the filthy _thing_ doing here?"

"I take it you don't like cats," Botan remarked, putting down her cup to reach out to pet Alfador, who ran in her direction after sensing Shura's aversion. "Kurama's Mom gave it to him. I think it's precious." She said, trying to boost the feline's self-esteem.

The prince 'hmph-ed' and sat down across from Botan, bringing his head to rest on his palms and giving her a blank stare.

"So…" she started good-naturedly, "Are you ready for your first day of school?"

Pink eyes drove themselves into the ferry girl's head, answering her query with silence.

She responded with an uneasy smile—maybe Shura just was not a morning person. Ever the optimist, she tried again, "Oh, don't be so biased. You've never been to a human school. I bet you'll like it!"

Botan's face fell as Shura snorted from across the table and began to chuckle. "I'd much rather spend a day with _Kurama _than be around a big group of whining humans," he said, choosing the lesser of evils.

"Well, too bad!" Botan said with a little spite. That spoilt brat always had something smart to say back to her. Koenma had better plan on allowing her some vacation time after this whole ordeal comes to an end. _'If it ever ends…'_ she mused glumly, thinking that if she were not already a spirit Shura would be her ticket to an early grave. "You'd better eat something," Botan added, "We're going to have to leave soon and we don't want to be late our first day!"

Shura sulked. He hated how she made everything plural. "I'll be fine," he grumbled, wanting to put off eating human food as long as possible.

The fuku-clad girl would not take "no" for an answer this time. Grabbing a tamago-yaki next to her bowl of rice, she stomped over to Shura and pulled an all too familiar black box out of her uniform. The prince opened his mouth to protest, but before he could say anything, she stuck the rectangular shaped omelet into his mouth, her finger only a threatening inch away from the red button. "Eat it," she ordered.

Shura's eyes vacillated between the button and Botan for a while before he decided it would be wise to appease the lunatic just this once. Begrudgingly, he began to chew the foreign food.

Botan smiled upon seeing Shura swallow it, "See now, it wasn't that bad."

Actually, it was not. However, the prince would never let his seemingly bipolar tormentor know that, "…I've had better."

As childish as ever, but at the moment, Botan didn't mind that much. In fact, she was expecting him to spit it out at her. "Of course," she said, putting on a pseudo-sweet smile, "Now, go get cleaned up and ready for your big day!" she exclaimed with much more pep than usual, a subtle revenge for his behavior earlier.

Shura cringed as his babysitter's screechy voice pierced his eardrums. _'Big day all right…'_ he thought with a grimace, retreating to his temporary room to prepare. _'Someone kill me.'_ He pleaded to anyone who would listen, exiting the kitchen while hearing Botan bustle about, humming an animated tune to herself.

**OOOOO**

The sullen prince reemerged from his room about twenty minutes later, fresh and ready to go.

"Oh, don't we look so cute!" Botan exclaimed, forgetting all animosity between them received less than a half an hour ago.

Shura was in the standard Meiou High School uniform, hideously red and incredibly restraining. The yellow trimmed collar and sleeves covered his words completely, only adding to Shura's displeasure. As far as any human was concerned, he _was_ one of them. The very thought of being brought down as an equal to something so weak made him want to retch.

"Turn that frown upside down, Shura!" Botan said happily. "We _are _going to have fun today! I even made bentos!" she babbled, presenting Shura with two red square containers filled with a variety of human foods that she had pulled out of her bag.

"Oh boy…" he drawled acerbically, grabbing his schoolbag and walking past Botan out the door.

The ferry girl growled, the sound barley making it out of her throat. Making a vow to herself that she would not abuse the privileges bestowed upon her by Koenma as Button Master, she followed Shura's path out the door, trotting to catch up with him.

"Slow down!" she demanded, finding it difficult to keep up with Shura's brisk pace. "You don't even know where the school is!" Botan reasoned, grabbing a hold of his arm and not letting go until he reduced his pace, "Besides, the elevator's this way," she said, pulling Shura back in the other direction.

The prince remained silent as he let Botan drag him to the two metallic doors at the end of the walkway. The ferry girl pressed the down button and waited patiently for the elevator to make its way to the top floor.

"…Are we going to be in the same class?" Shura asked.

"Of course!" Botan replied, stepping into the elevator that had arrived a second before, "I have to be around you at all times."

"Oh," Shura replied, accepting Fate with a silent loathing as he followed Death into the dark green tiled elevator compartment.

"Now…" Botan began, pressing the ground floor button, "I know you're not used to being around a lot of people—human, demon, or otherwise—but you're just going to have to go with the flow," she told him, almost sympathetically. "Think of it like a vacation," she added, hoping it would help some.

"A vacation in Hell," he muttered.

The elevator stopped and shifted before opening, revealing the richly decorated lobby of Kurama's apartment building.

"But a vacation none the less," Botan ended upon hearing his hushed remark, chucking and exiting the compartment while leaving Shura to follow her.

"Here we go!" she said to both herself and Shura with anticipation while walking down the plush carpet, eyes sparking with eagerness as she came closer and closer to the sliding glass doors that would allow them to enter the city.

_ 'At least someone's excited about this,'_ he thought, now having to quicken his steps to keep up with the ferry girl's anxious pace.

As they neared the doors, the electronic sensors under the carpet picked up their weight and signaled for the doors to open, allowing the sounds of hustle and bustle of the street before them enter the tranquil lobby.

"Ready?" the blue-haired girl beamed up at Shura.

Shura rolled his eyes, "Does it really matter?"

"Nope," Botan said, shrugging and yanking the reluctant prince over the threshold and onto the busy sidewalk.

"If we keep on walking at this pace we'll be there in about ten minutes. I'm glad Kurama lives so close," Botan thought aloud, not particularly caring if Shura responded or not. "It's only the second week of April," she continued, "so I know we didn't miss that much of the first term." She glanced over at Shura who just nodded while taking in the sights around him, not really paying attention to his companion.

"We wouldn't want to fall too far behind, right?" she asked him.

"Uh-huh," he answered, looking at a parking meter curiously as they passed, giving a generic answer to appease Botan.

Botan smirked, knowing that he was not paying attention to her, "Don't you think Kurama looked so cute this morning when he was shuffling around for his stuff?" she asked, wondering if the response would be different.

"Uh-huh," Shura said, not knowing what he was answering, his attention still taken by those odd metal poles sticking out from the concrete.

Botan broke out laughing, attracting the attention of not only Shura, but also several confused passers by.

"What's so funny?" the prince asked her with a muddled look on his face befitting of a five-year-old.

"Oh, nothing, nothing…" she said, waving her hand dismissively at Shura, who just gave her a weird look and went back to his own little world.

The two false students passed a nice looking outdoor café, in which a familiar patch of red hair caught Botan's eye.

Having been kicked out of his apartment early, Kurama had decided to make use of his free time by just enjoying a nice breakfast and coffee. He saw Botan stare at him out of the corner of his eye and lowered the newspaper he held in front of him, giving Botan a smile.

Upon recognizing him, Botan returned the smile as he gave her a thumbs up and quickly ducked behind the newspaper to avoid a confrontation with Shura, who would have undoubtedly made a scene upon finding out that he had been lied to.

Fortunately, Shura did not notice Botan's movement and kept silent, now glaring at a man up ahead who was talking too loudly on his cell phone.

"What's wrong?" Botan asked, giving her attention back to Shura.

"Uh-huh," he answered vaguely, still not listening to Botan.

She narrowed her eyes, "Fine then."

Her anger was short-lived as she spotted what were presumably some of their classmates running along on the street across from them, "Look Shura!" she exclaimed.

"What?" He asked her, shocked out of his reverie and looking around.

She pointed across the street, "Some students."

"So? We are going to the same place, after all."

"Yes, I know. But, don't you want to go talk to them? You know, socialize? Both Koenma and your father think that that would help you some," Botan said.

Shura snorted, "No, I don't want to talk to them."

The ferry girl pouted, "How will you make any friends if you don't talk to them?"

His eyelids slid halfway down as he stared at Botan in silent contemplation. …How could one be so dense?

"Oh _fine_," she huffed, continuing ahead, "They're gone anyway."

_'Big loss.'_ Shura thought to himself, knowing that verbalizing his apathy would only get him a scolding.

"Hey! I see the school!" Botan exclaimed, momentarily forgetting the failure of getting Shura to come out of his shell.

Shura, merely for the pursuit of his curiosity, looked up and observed the school. It was fairly large, he surmised, never having seen another human school beforehand. Around it was a wall surrounding grassy area and trees, and a metal gate at its center.

They were early, Botan noted, which was good. It would give her time to settle down some and find their homeroom class.

"Let's see here…" she mumbled, slowing her pace and opening the silver clasp on her bag.

Noticing that his escort had disappeared from his side, Shura turned around. "What are you doing?" he asked, watching the ferry girl rummage through the contents of her already messy schoolbag.

"Looking for a few papers Lord Koenma gave me," Botan said, shuffling papers around, looking for the right ones. "I knew I should have cleaned this out after Sarayashiki…" she mumbled to herself after receiving a small paper cut.

Shura stood there staring at her bumbling about until she finally pulled her hand out in triumph.

"Ah-hah!" she spouted, shoving the papers under Shura's nose, "We'd be lost without these. Now then…" Botan started, moving the papers away from Shura's face to read them, "It says here that we are both transfer students. I'm a girl transferring from Kyoto to be closer to my… Sick grandmother?" she asked to no one in particular. _'Honestly, Koenma. How bland…'_ she thought, knowing that her boss could have come up with something more believable than that.

She skimmed the paper once again, "You, on the other hand, Shura, are a distant relative of Kurama's that's coming from Kyushu to live with him for…umm…" Botan trailed off, seeing that whatever had been typed there before was now inked out and replaced with "being a big stupid trouble-making brat!" in Koenma's sloppy handwriting, "…For domestic disturbances," Botan finished, not really far from the truth.

The blue-haired guide flipped the page, browsing over the next. "We're in classroom 2-B," Botan smiled, "To be or not to be!" she said loudly, giggling at her own lame joke.

Shura blinked a few times, not really understanding, "Weirdo," he said under his breath, pivoting on his foot and started toward the front gate.

"Hey! Wait for meeee!" Botan yelled, quickly stuffing the papers back into her bag and jogging after Shura.

Catching up with the little prince, Botan took a glance at her watch, "Eight ten… We have about fifteen minutes until homeroom begins. That should be plenty of time to actually _find _our homeroom."

Shura did not respond. He had already had enough of Botan's chatting, and it was only_morning_. He was hit with the urge to repeatedly run his head into the stone wall they had just passed. He knew he would not be able to take a whole day of this.

"Hold it!" Botan blurted out, grabbing Shura's arm and preventing him from advancing further into the school.

The prince glared back at her, "What is it now?"

"You can't just walk in there wearing your shoes," she said as-a-matter-of-fact-ly, pulling Shura over to where she stood.

"Why the hell not?" he asked, getting aggravated from all of the details going to school involved.

"Just because," Botan answered, kneeling down and taking her shoes off. She searched the shoe slots for a moment, looking for her surname. Upon finding it, she pulled out a pair of shoes with her identification on them. Slipping them on, she turned to Shura. "Well," she said, "get yours. They're alphabetical. Minamino, remember?"

"Yeah, yeah…" Shura grumbled. He found them easy enough, but he lacked the desire to put them on. They were blue, the assigned color for all second year students, and on the tips were written:

Minamino, Shura – 11 – 2-B

Feeling Botan's gaze on him, he let out a sigh. "Fine, fine…" he muttered silently, knowing that her stare was screaming at him to put on the damned shoes. At this point he was willing to do anything—short of hurting his dignity—to get Botan to leave him alone. Then again, the fact that she is still alive could be considered damaging to his pride.

With a sigh, the prince followed Death up the stairs, hoping that he wouldn't have to interact with her—much less anyone—for the duration of the day.

"2-B, 2-B, 2-B…" Botan said to herself, breaking the silence between the two. "5-B, 4-B, 3-B…" she counted with anticipation. Why she was excited was anyone's guess.

_'She must not get out much.' _Shura thought, finding it odd that anyone would be so excited about going to a school.

"2-B!" the ferry girl hollered a bit too zealously for Shura's tastes. She opened the sliding door that led into the classroom, carefully stepping over the threshold. Shura stomped into the room behind her, not caring for the ostensible enthusiasm Botan had for the experience.

"Guess the teacher's not here yet…" she said, sounding disappointed.

Shura grumbled and went to sit at the desk in the back right corner, conveniently the furthest away from Botan.

"You know, I could shock you right now," she said, boasting her control.

Shura scowled at her. "On what grounds?" he asked acidly, looking at her through narrowed eyes.

"You're not within a five meter radius of me."

"You wouldn't," the prince stated bluntly.

"No. But I'm just telling you I could…" she trailed off, hearing someone walk in behind her.

"Could what?" the stranger asked, tone of voice obviously stating that the speaker was looking for any misbehavior.

"Could go look for our teacher," Botan covered up smoothly, an art perfected after so many years of Koenma coming in on the tail ends of her private conversations with George, Ayame, and various other Reikai staff.

"Oh," he said, relieved that these unfamiliar faces were not there to cause him any trouble. "Well, you've found him. I'm Mr. Tanaka. I take it you two are the late arrivals this year."

"Yes sir!" Botan said with a smile.

"You are… Nanami?" he questioned Botan, who answered with a nod. "So that means you're Minamino." He said happily, turning toward Shura, "I had your cousin a few years ago. Brilliant boy. Straight As. I just know you'll meet the standards I have for you."

'Minamino' stared blankly at his teacher before snorting, preparing to tell the man off for even assuming that he and the fox were related. He also had a bone to pick with the human for complimenting that traitor in his presence.

Botan, catching the prince's intentions just in time, interrupted, "So? When's the rest of the class getting here? They don't have a lot of time."

Shura glanced at the plain, black-rimmed clock mounted on the wall: 8:22.

"It seems I've been landed with the bad lot this year. They normally wait until the last second until they decide to come in."

"Oh," Botan said with empathy, knowing first hand what it was like to be stuck with a 'bad lot'. She gave Shura a stern glance.

Shura stuck his tongue out when Mr. Tanaka was not looking.

Choosing to ignore that recent show of maturity, Botan decided that the prince had been pretty well behaved, so she sat down in desk in the front left corner, giving Shura a kind of reward for not making their situation as difficult as it could have been.

Several minutes later, students began to trickle into the classroom, taking seats wherever their friends were sitting. Once the class was full, Botan peeked over right shoulder with the intent of catching a glimpse of the poor soul who chose to sit next to her young charge.

He was an average-sized boy with short, trimmed brown hair and a bored look in his blue eyes. She turned back around and rested her chin on her palm, cocking her head to the side. Where had she seen that boy before? Though he was most definitely human, she could not shake the feeling that he was important somehow. Then it hit her, her eyes widening in sudden recollection.

Hatanaka Shuuichi. Kurama's stepbrother.

She chuckled, slightly amused. Avoiding a Shuuichi all morning only to run into another. She doubted Shura would protest too much, as he was clueless to their relation. It would probably behoove her to keep him in the dark about it, too.

"Class," Tanaka began, breaking Botan's chain of thought, "as you may or may not have already noticed, there are two new faces in the room today." Some students had noticed the new girl and boy when they had entered the classroom and others perked up considerably at this and looked around for the aforemated new faces. "Miss Nanami and Mister Minamino, would you please come up and introduce yourselves?"

Very similar to Pavlov's dogs, at the sound of the word "Minamino" the majority of the females in the class swooned and a look of euphoria overtook their faces.

Botan noticed this as she walked to the front of the room and chuckled to herself, _'Poor girls. They're in for such a disappointment…'_

Someone who did not swoon at the fox's name was the younger Shuuichi, who was wondering why he had not heard of this new Minamino from his stepmother. Something was not right.

"Hello!" Botan greeted, first impressions being her forte, "I'm Botan and I know I'll just love it here!" she said happily, giving everyone a smile. She nudged Shura's arm, signaling him to say something.

"I… Um…" he started, telling himself he had nothing to be afraid of in a crowd of teenage humans. However, they were all _staring _at him. "I'm Shura and I'm just… happy to be here."

Botan made a move to return to her seat and Shura followed suit, glad to be out of the spotlight.

Everyone returned to doing their own little thing as the teacher began to write down the current lesson on the chalkboard at the front of the room. All but one pair of eyes continued to follow Shura, their focus upon his forehead.

"What are _you _looking at?" the prince snapped at the brown-haired boy sitting across from him, going back into his default nature.

"_Nothing_," his classmate sniped back, immediately disliking the newcomer who claimed to be a relative of his. He turned away and looked to the front of the classroom.

Shura scowled and slumped forward, resting his head on his folded arms. He quickly tuned out the lecture, wrapping himself up in his own little world, Mr. Tanaka's voice muted in his ear, as if traveling through water. Before he knew it, Botan was tapping him on the shoulder, thought what she was saying was unintelligible.

"It's lunchtime Shura," she said for what felt like the fiftieth time, "Come on!" she said a little louder, successfully getting Shura to acknowledge her.

"…Oh," he finally answered, standing up. "Where do we go?" he asked her, noticing that the rest of the class had left, even the teacher.

"I was thinking outside," she said, starting toward the door, "Come on. I have a proposition for you I can explain on the way."

Shura followed her with no fuss, wondering what sort of plan she could possibly have that would interest him.

"Lunch break here is forty-five minutes long." Botan started, taking a left subconsciously, having already studied the layout of the school beforehand.

"_And_?" Shura asked impatiently, not really knowing where she was going with blurting out random information.

"Legally, you're only allowed to be away from me for thirty minutes." She continued, ignoring his questioning. "But…"

"But what!" he yelled, hating how his uninvited guardian was beating around the bush.

Botan rolled her eyes, "What I'm trying to say is that if you behave, and I mean _really _behave, I'll let you have those extra fifteen minutes away from me, just as long as you tell me where you're going and that you be back in the classroom _on time,"_ she said, stressing the last two words.

The ferry girl paused for a moment, but then decided to continue and answer Shura's unasked question, "Because if I so much as suspect you of trying to flee the area…" she trailed off, raising her fist so Shura could see it and moving her thumb in a way that would suggest the rapid use of a button, "…Let's just say both of us wouldn't be very happy," she finished, trying to sound as threatening as a girl of her stature could.

"Well?" she asked as they approached the door leading outside.

"Deal," Shura said, almost smiling at that. Almost.

"Great then! Where will you be?"

Not knowing much about the school, Shura picked the most deserted looking spot he could find, making a mental note to eventually know the school well enough to find a place where no one would bother him, "Over there under that tree," he said, pointing to a shady spot that was a shadow combined of the tree and the wall it grew next to.

"I knew you'd say that," she said, "I'll let you off today, but part of you coming to school was to try and become more sociable, you know."

Choosing not to comment, Shura started to walk toward his destination.

"Hey! Wait a minute!" Botan said, grabbing his arm and placing a red bento box in his hand, "You forgot your lunch!"

Eyeing the box carefully, he nodded to her in a sort of thanks and went to sit under the tree.

Deciding to leave him to his own devices, Botan went in the opposite direction, hoping to find an empty spot of her own. After all, who said their agreement only had to have one benefiting party?

**OOOOO**

Stepping into classroom right on the dot, Shura let out a sigh of relief. He had gotten somewhat lost. Not that he would give that as an excuse to his captor if she asked for one.

Botan gave him a small wave with her left hand, noticing that he looked rather pale. She smiled, happy to see that she had a little control over him, even though a fancy version of a shock collar seemed rather inhumane to her. Though Koenma would argue that she was not human and therefore it should not bother her.

_ 'Touché, Koenma,'_ she thought, turning her head to look out the window. In some situations, she was glad she was not human—like now, for instance. Though she was excited before—having been to school with Yuusuke and Keiko on occasion— actually _sitting _through the lesson was quite a chore. At Sarayashiki, she would pop in and out between classes, occasionally staying with the two for a nice lunch outside and chatting.She yawned and slumped forward onto her desk. Bo_ring_.

Shura made his way to the back of the classroom, making sure to give an extra special glare to that weirdo next to him. _'Yeah, I see you staring at me again.'_ With the promise of fifteen free minutes tomorrow, Shura repressed the urge to slug the cretin and quietly took his seat.

The rest of the school day passed with little event. With great pleasure Shura noted that Botan looked bored, and he was dancing on the inside to know that she no longer seemed to enjoy school. He hoped that it would serve to take the bounce out of her step for the rest of his stay in the Ningenkai. The first thing that he noticed about his chauffeur was that she was far too peppy for his sanity.

When the dismissal bell rang, Botan jumped out her daze and gathered her stuff, making sure to copy down the homework; though she was positive she didn't process anything Mr. Tanaka had said. Oh well. It was not as if she lacked access to the archives in Reikai—a place where she could easily find the answer to any question the mortal realm would dare to throw at her.

Shura packed up as well, though he did not bother to catch the homework. Firstly and foremost of all, he did not give a damn. Secondly, he knew Botan would tell the fox what it was, and then they would team up on him and make him do it. He felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise. Irksome Human, as Shura had dubbed the older boy, was staring at him again. Torn between turning around and glaring or leaving the school as quickly as possible, Shura decided that Irksome Human was the lesser of the two evils and followed Botan out of the building.

"Isn't the fox's building this way?" Shura asked while pointing in the opposite direction Botan was heading. 

"Yes, but don't you remember?" Botan asked, looking a bit offended that he had forgotten whatever he was supposed to have committed to memory.

"Remember what?" Shura asked.

"We're going shopping! You can't just wear what you came here in everyday, you know," she said, grabbing the prince by the hand and picking up the pace, "Come on. I told the girls we'd be there right after school."

No, he had not forgotten that bit of information. He had just repressed it, hoping it had all been just a horrible, horrible dream.

They walked quickly through the crowds that began congealing on the sidewalks, all having somewhere else to be. To be more accurate, Botan broke out into a light jog while dragging Shura behind her like a stubborn mule.

"Botan!" he heard someone call over the crowd of people.

Both Shura and Botan looked in the direction of the voice. Waving her arms in the air was Yukimura Keiko, girlfriend to one Urameshi Yuusuke, both of whom worked part time at the Yukimura family's noodle house.

"Keiko!" Botan greeted her friend with a second wind of energy, lugging Shura along.

Botan began to chat happily with the human she called Keiko. Shura, finally thankful to be free from the ferry girl's clutches, plopped down onto a white bench and observed the area. They had come to rest in a sequestered part of the city, a park set aside in the madness that was human commerce. It was not that big, but the surrounding trees acting as soundproofing gave it a feeling of seclusion.

Not too long later, two other girls joined the group. The taller one, also a human, was a tough looking woman known as Kuwabara Shizuru. Like Keiko, her relation to Botan was unknown to Shura. The other girl, unmistakably a demon, was short and had long aqua hair, which she had pulled back in a ponytail. However, the fact that she was a demon is not what caught his attention. Her eyes were a deep red and bore a striking resemblance to those of Hiei, Lady Mukuro's right hand man. At the thought of Mukuro's heir, Shura scowled, _'That short bastard.'_

"So, you must be the Mighty Prince Shura." Shizuru announced with an air of sarcasm, coming over to sit by the sulking prince. He glared at her, as if to will her into submission, but she was surprisingly unaffected. That alone puzzled him.

She laughed, "He glares like the midget."

"Shizuru! Don't call Hiei that! He could be nearby…" Botan jumped, shifting her eyes around. She was, after all, scared to death of the boy in black. Most people were afraid of Hiei though, so she did not feel _too_ picked on.

Shura laughed a little. The Shizuru human was not too bad in comparison to the others he had met today. She topped the irksome one—that was for sure.

"Let's go!" Botan exclaimed, all thoughts of small talk and scary fire demons out of her mind. With refueled abandon, Botan pulled Shura up and began to drag the prince in the direction of the shopping center. He allowed himself to be dragged along like a rag doll, at this point too tired to find out what it would be like to further incur the wrath of his guide.

After all, one cannot spell psychopomp without psycho.

**OOOOO**

**Comments:** In theory, I have written a fairly accurate description of the Japanese school system. If you find a mistake, please, please, _please _tell me so I can change it. I also did a little spelunking for Japanese foods. Alas, most of this knowledge came from Google, so I don't know how dependable it is. But, a little research never hurt anyone. :)


	4. Impressions

Sunshine – Chapter Four: Impressions

**OOOOO**

"Where should we go first?" Botan asked the prince, not planning to actually use his input but not rude enough to exclude it.

"How should I know?" Shura retorted snidely, loathing to be pulled around in Botan's surprisingly iron grip.

"Too bad then," she babbled airily. She glanced over her shoulder at her female companions that were tailing behind them, absorbed in their own chatter, "What do you ladies think?"

"Let's get his majesty taken care of first," Shizuru drawled around her cigarette, jerking her thumb in the direction of the nearest clothing store, "Then we can go eat or something."

Shura bristled and turned to glare at the older woman. "His majesty is fine," he snarled through gritted teeth, wanting to put off his part of the trip for as long as possible.

"Sounds like a plain," Botan voiced in agreement, tugging Shura's arm like a leash. "If you're good I'll buy you an ice cream or something," she told him in a babied up voice.

Shura had no idea what his 'eyes cream' she spoke of was, but he did not like the patronizing manner she used while saying it.

"Ice cream?" Yukina perked up, interrupting Shura as he opened his mouth to retort, looking at Botan with a hopeful twinkle in her eye.

"Yep," Botan smiled back at her. "And if you behave, I'll buy you one, too," she told the demon girl with a wink.

"Don't worry, I'll be good," Yukina reassured the ferry girl.

Keiko and Shizuru joined the conversation later and the women entered the store in a jovial manner.

"How my I help you ladies today?" a middle-aged employee asked, wearing a smock with the store's logo over her own clothes.

"Actually, we're mainly here for this guy," Botan answered, pulling her right arm forward to present Shura, who had moved behind her as they entered the store, for fear of shopping or fear of strangers she did not know, "Could you direct us to the little boys' section?"

Shura glowered.

The woman laughed and pointed to her left, "I think you'll find what you're looking for back there."

"Thanks," Botan said, turning to the others, "This won't be too interesting, so you guys can do whatever."

"Well, since I'm here, I may as well pick up some new unmentionables," Shizuru told them without a hint of embarrassment, waving them off and sauntering over to the women's department.

"I don't really need any new clothes, so I'll just tag along," Keiko said.

"I'll go, too," Yukina finished.

"Well, okay…" Botan shrugged while heading to the boy's department, incredulous that they would want to some along.

Once there, Botan finally released Shura and got behind him, pulling the back of his uniform collar down.

"What are you doing?" he asked with discomfort, not liking the feeling of Death's cold fingers so close to his neck.

"Looking for the size tag," she said, pulling out a white tag that presented her with an upside down M.

"You're a medium," she noted simply, sticking the tag back in and releasing him. "Well," she started, clapping Shura on the back, "the sooner we start, the sooner we're done."

He nodded at the sentiment and fiddled with his sleeves.

"See anything you like?" Botan prompted, noticing his hesitation. "I know it's not what you're used to, but, umm…" Botan did not really know where she was going with that statement, so she tried again, "If you miss your robes and stuff, we could always go and join Shizuru and pick you out a pretty dress," she laughed, "We could even get one to match your eyes!"

Shura glowered at her and opened his mouth the say something but was once again interrupted by Yukina.

"It's not so bad, your highness," piped the demon girl sympathetically, smoothing out the imaginary wrinkles on her pale blue dress, "I mean, human clothes in general, not just dresses, though I prefer them…" she trailed off and gave him a small smile.

Subconsciously, it was comforting to here that from another demon. Therefore, for reasons Shura could not explain, he calmed down considerably. "I guess that's kind of neat," he mumbled, pointing at a red pullover.

"That's a start!" Botan all but squealed, feeling as if she could kiss Yukina for getting her charge to cooperate. She decided against that, however, as she could think of two men who would kill her if she were to do so. "Get to it!" she told Shura, going to lean against the wall where Keiko was, hoping to catch up with the human woman she considered to be her best friend.

"I can help you, if you would like," Yukina offered to Shura, being the ever helpful girl she was, following the younger demon as he wordlessly perused through clothing.

Botan allowed herself to relax a little, figuring Shura would not do anything too stupid while he was out of her range. She could tell he was awfully tired, and because of that he would probably want to get everything done with as little event as possible.

"So, Keiko, are you planning to buy anything?" Botan asked the brunette, who had not mentioned exactly what she was looking for.

"Oh, nothing here," she answered, frowning, "Just a new frying pan."

"What happened to the old one?" Botan inquired.

"I cracked it over that idiot's hard head," Keiko grumbled, cracking her knuckles at the thought.

Botan laughed nervously, "Yuusuke misbehaving?"

Keiko allowed herself a tiny smirk, "Not anymore."

"Ah," the ferry girl answered. "So, head injury aside, how has he been?" she asked. Things were awfully slow in the Reikai, and even slower in Japan, where Yuusuke held jurisdiction as a detective. Ever since the Makai Tournament, reasons for Botan to go to the Ningenkai became fewer and fewer. This extended break from paranormal activity should have been considered a blessing, but Botan only felt as if she was gradually drifting away from her mortal loved ones.

"He's been very restless," Keiko sighed, breaking Botan's depressing trail of thought, "It's the lack of adventure, I think. He's trying so hard to be a normal, human boyfriend…"

Botan set her schoolbag down and slipped her arms around Keiko's shoulders. "Don't tear yourself up over it," she said, though she was not surprised Yuusuke also missed the action, "You know he's just doing that because he wants you to be happy."

Keiko smiled wistfully, "I know. Big jerk," she said affectionately. "I just want him to be happy, too."

"You're so sweet, Keiko," Botan giggled, releasing the brunette and patting her on the head.

"Hey. I'm done," Shura interrupted, carrying a few articles of clothing in his arms. Yukina stood a little ways behind him, giving Botan a reassuring smile.

"Riiiight," Botan drew out, looking at his arms, "I'd say you're about a third of the way there. You'd be surprised how fast clothes get dirty when you're out and about."

Shura's shoulders slumped, and for a second he resembled a defeated child, "Then what do I do with these?"

"Try them on, of course," Botan answered, "So you'll know that they fit."

"But I already know," Shura said, puzzled, "They are all medium."

"Fine," Botan sighed, not feeling like arguing with the boy's special brand of logic, "I'll hold on to these for you," she said, taking the clothes from him.

Just as he was turning to rejoin Yukina, Botan spoke up, "Don't forget underwear," she said with unnecessary volume, watching Shura stumble forward a little, the backs of his pointy ears reddening slightly. Laughing, Botan called Yukina over, "Take this," she said, handing the ice demon the control for Shura's wards.

"What is it?" Yukina asked.

"It's a control for the wards on prince charming over there. I just remembered that I'll be needing a few clothes, too. Not as much as Shura, so it'll only take me a minute," Botan explained. "I don't think you'll need it, but just in case."

"Alright," Yukina said, turning to follow Shura.

When she caught up with him, he was casually flipping through shirts, looking as if there was no place he would rather not be. Catching sight of Yukina, he turned to her, his eyes falling upon the black box she held in her hands. "What are you doing with that?" he asked, feeling somewhat betrayed that there was now a fellow demon gripping the metaphorical trigger.

"Botan had to go do something," she answered vaguely, "But she'll be back soon, so don't try to do anything. It really would hurt me to hurt you," she said sincerely, knowing full well what is was like to be trapped against your will.

Shura did not respond, instead returning to the clothes rack. An uncomfortable silence settled between them, and suddenly he wanted nothing more than for it to go away. Searching for a topic, he recalled the familiarity of her eyes. "Do you know a fire demon named Hiei?" he asked out of the blue.

Yukina jumped at the abrupt question. "Yes. I do," she answered with a smile, "Actually, he's my twin brother. Why do you ask?"

Shocked at that piece of information, it took longer for Shura to reply. "Your eyes are the same," he said finally.

"Oh," she said simply, but she seemed pleased, "Do you know him?"

"We're…" Shura began, but did not know how to accurately express their relationship. His affiliation with Hiei was somewhat complex, as he truly did not hate the fire demon as much as he had initially. They would run across each other whenever Shura crossed into Mukuro's territory to cause a ruckus, and Hiei would make sure the prince never made it farther than a mile. The subsequent battle that would take place between the two was quite an entertaining challenge in Shura's opinion, and every time they returned to their respective castles to lick their wounds (literally, in Hiei's case), Shura would vow that he would push himself harder next time. Though it could be seen as a sport, it was certainly no game, as he once had to cut his hair in an attempt to balance a chunk he had lost to Hiei's katana, the sound of it swinging dangerously past his head something he would never forget. He also remembered how close he came to gutting the fire demon, his claws piercing flesh as Hiei moved at the last nanosecond. Their relationship was a bloody one, but Shura liked to call it a rivalry as opposed to a bitter hatred.

"We're acquaintances," he answered at last, figuring Yukina did not need to know the gruesome details.

"Is he okay?" she asked. "I haven't heard much of him in a while."

"He looked fine last time I saw him," Shura lied. In the last battle they had before the prince was whisked away by Botan, the fire demon had leapt into the trees with a few scratches and a wounded arm. Shura had given him worse, so he could only assume Hiei recovered without much ado.

"I'm glad to hear that," she smiled, "He's been through so much and lived, but I can't help but worry sometimes. I've only known of our relation for a few months—I'm just scared of losing him again."

Shura looked confused, "What do you mean?"

Yukina's face fell slightly, "I don't really like to talk about it. Let's just say the Koorime aren't very fond of males."

"Oh," Shura said, though that really did not answer a thing, in his opinion. He would have to ask Botan later.

"No matter. Let's just get back to the task at hand," Yukina said lightly, but with just enough hidden force to steer Shura away from further questioning.

By the time Botan returned, Shura had set aside an ample amount of clothing, and she suggested they should leave if they wanted time to grab something to eat. Not protesting, Shura followed the girls to the check out line.

Botan and Shura paid for their belongings with their otherworldly credit cards and exited the store, the now visible sky making it known that it was considerably later than when they had entered.

"Took you long enough," Shizuru said from the side, slowly getting up from a bench placed outside of the store, a bag in her hand and a fresh cigarette in her mouth.

"Well, as they say, time flies when you're having fun," Botan replied.

"Right," the older woman said, disbelieving.

"Why do I have to carry all of these?" Shura complained from behind, hands weighed down by bags. He desperately missed the demonic strength he had taken for granted.

"Because they're yours," Botan chirped, skipping along.

Shura made and indignant sound. "_These_ are _yours_," he spat out, moving the fingers that were wrapped around three bags laden with female clothing.

Caught red handed, the ferry girl backtracked and relieved him of her baggage. "I was hoping you wouldn't notice," she pouted.

"Hmph. Can we go back to Kurama's now?" Shura all but begged, noting how awkward that sentence flowed from his mouth.

"Not yet, but soon," Botan tried to pacify.

"There's where I need to go," Keiko interjected, pointing across the street to another store. "I shouldn't be to long, so you guys just go on ahead, okay?" she told them, starting to break away from the group and head toward the crosswalk.

"Alright," Botan said, before they were too separated to hear each other.

"Hey, Botan," Yukina started, "Since you'll be around the human world more often, does that mean you'll be allowed to, um," her face scrunched up as she looked for the right phrase, "hang out with us more often?"

"I don't see why not," the ferry girl answered, "I mean, I'll really only be needed when Kurama cannot keep an eye on our dear prince. Hey, we could even hang around my place."

"Your place?" Shizuru asked with a sort of puzzled look.

"Oh! That's right!" she exclaimed, laughing at her own forgetfulness, "I guess Kurama is the only one I've told so far. You know, since I'm technically a student and stuff, I've been given a sort of fake—but real—address. Just in case the school or anyone tries to send me anything and finds out that I don't really, well, exist. Or something like that, Koenma said."

"So, where is this little bachelorette pad of yours?" Shizuru inquired.

"The White Springs apartment complex. It's about a block away from Kurama's place. Convenience and all of that. It's not really what you would call furnished yet, though. Right now it's just a place to put all of my human stuff."

"I see," Shizuru said, "So, you'll be moving in?"

"Until all of this clears up, yes," Botan answered.

"That's really neat," Yukina said.

"Yeah, I guess it kinda is," Botan agreed, "It's been a good century or two since I've taken up residence in any mortal realm. Especially for actual work." Speaking of work, she glanced to her left, "Hey, Shura?"

"Huh?" he answered ineloquently, not really listening to the conversation but lucid enough to pick out his own name.

"Oh, nothing really. You just looked kinda out of it," Botan commented.

"He's probably just bored of us talking about girly things," Shizuru laughed. "I bet he'd be more entertained if we reminisced about the good ol' days when we were at the Ankoku Bujutsukai," she joked with a wistful and somewhat sad smile.

Yukina visibly blanched at the memory and Botan stifled a laugh.

Shura's interest was piqued, however, as he had heard his father and other demons that frequently visited the castle mention a tournament by that name. Pride getting the better of him, he opened his mouth to comment, "I doubt any story you have would interest me."

"Just keep on telling yourself that," Botan said, not believing him. "Hey, there's the ice cream shop. All in favor of forgoing a healthy dinner?"

"I," both Shizuru and Yukina answered.

"Kinda slow this time of day, huh?" Botan asked as they entered, greeted by only two employees.

"That's because most people are at home having a dinner that's healthy for them," Shizuru quipped.

"Healthy smealthy," Botan drawled, heading up to the counter with her bags looped around her arms. "What do you guys want? Koenm—err_ I'm_ buying."

"A banana split," Yukina said with no sign of hesitation.

Not really knowing much about ice cream, Shizuru left it up to fate, "Surprise me. And a vanilla cone for him," she added, catching the lost look on Shura's face.

"Okay," Botan said, leaving them to order.

"Let's sit over there," Shizuru suggested, pointing to the booth that would be furthest away from human ears, just in case something less than normal became the topic of conversation.

Shura sat his bags down next to the table and slid into the booth on the other side of Yukina and Shizuru.

Botan came over to set her bags down and returned to the counter to wait for their orders.

"Um, you're that new girl," the boy who was working at the counter said, "I, um, saw you in the hallway during lunch," he added as an explanation.

"That would be me," Botan confirmed with a laugh.

"I-I'm Makoto!" he said suddenly, thrusting his plastic covered hand out to her.

"Botan," she said, shaking his hand while he blushed profusely. He was cute, but in that little boy way. Botan figured him a freshman. Either that or she was getting old. _'Perish the thought,'_ she told herself.

"Hey, Makoto," his older looking coworker chided, "Quit flirting with the customer and get their orders. She's too old for you, anyway."

Makoto's ears turned red as he vehemently pulled his hand away from Botan's, "S-sorry!" he said, addressing the both of them. He ducked his head down by the ice cream machine.

Botan giggled and said nothing of it, somewhat flattered.

"Um, here you go," Makoto murmured weakly, handing the girl a tray upon which her orders sat.

"Thank you," Botan said with extra sugar, winking at the younger boy.

Awestruck, he nodded dumbly at her retreating back.

"Got yourself an admirer?" Shizuru asked as Botan returned with their cold treats.

"Seems like it," she answered, batting her eyelashes and sitting down next to Shura. "Here you go," she said, setting down the tray and dispensing the ice cream.

"Hmm. Surprising," Shizuru said, eyeing her cone and stubbing out her cigarette in a nearby ashtray. Whatever it was, it sure was colorful.

"Thank you, Botan," Yukina said.

Shura held the cone awkwardly, watching Shizuru idly lick hers at intervals. Following her example, he licked the cone tentatively, letting the ice cream melt on his tongue before pulling it back into his mouth.

"Good, huh?" Botan asked proudly, knowing that no child—demon, human, or otherwise—could resist the allure of ice cream.

"Adequate," he replied smugly, taking another lick.

"Hmph. Brat."

"_Hag_," he retorted casually, not bothering to pull his face out of the cone when he said it.

"Some thanks I get," Botan said after being momentarily taken aback. Notwithstanding jabs at her age, she repressed her indignation and changed the subject.

"Hey, Makoto!" an entering customer said, the jingling of a bell signaling his arrival.

"Oh! Hi, Shuuichi!" he answered with a childlike adoration befitting of an underclassman.

Shura, being on the side of the booth that allowed them to see the door, immediately recognized the younger Shuuichi. The prince frowned and made an irritated noise.

Picking up on Shura's annoyance, Shizuru turned around to see what was bothering him. "Hey, Botan, isn't that—"

"Ixnay an the other bray!" Botan squealed at her while tilting her head in Shura's direction.

Though not really understanding the message Botan was trying to get across, Shizuru shrugged it off and complied, going back to her food.

Shuuichi was ordering something and chatting with Makoto, the two obviously being acquaintances from school. Upon receiving his cone, the older boy said his goodbyes and flanked for the door. In doing so, he was met with the same contemptuous eyes that had been on him all day. He frowned at the new boy, who frowned back with equal intensity, the familiar looking blue-haired girl next to him giving her companion a disapproving look. Shuuichi's eyes once again situated themselves on Shura's forehead. Knowing something was definitely up, Shuuichi felt the store, his head full of theories.

"I don't like that guy," Shura suddenly blurted out, "He keeps on staring at me."

"Well, maybe it's just because you're the new kid at his school," Shizuru supplied.

"So is _she_," he spat, pointing at Botan with his free hand, "The new kid with the _unnaturally_ colored hair."

"Oh, it's not that big of a deal," Botan tried to reassure him. "Maybe it's just because, um, he likes you or something," she joked.

Shura looked at the ferry girl like she had grown another head.

"Hey guys," Keiko said out of nowhere, everyone too absorbed in conversation to notice that she had arrived. She held a chocolate cone in one hand and a heavy bag in the other.

"Welcome back," Shizuru said, scooting herself and Yukina over to make room for the brunette.

"Got what you needed?" Botan asked her.

"Yeah," Keiko said, "'Unbreakable' is what the salesman called it."

"Let's hope that's true," Botan laughed.

"You can eat that, you know," Keiko suggested as she noticed Shura pressing the cone to his face in hopes of what she could only assume was licking all of the ice cream.

Shura lifted his head and gave her a funny look.

"The cone, I mean," she clarified, "It's edible." To demonstrate, she took a small bite out of hers.

"…Oh," Shura said quietly, looking away.

"You didn't…" Botan started before she burst out in hysterics, for some reason or another thinking this was the funniest thing in the universe. She buried her face into her folded arms, muffling her loud and rather obnoxious laughter.

"Oh, Botan, it's not that funny," Keiko admonished her, seeing the embarrassed look on Shura's face and not wanting Botan to make it any worse.

Botan came up biting her lip, considerably quieter.

The rest of their time spent there was spent with the girls chatting animatedly with each other about absolutely nothing while the prince tuned them out, fiddling with his uneaten cone and the melting ice cream pooling within it.

"Oh my!" Keiko exclaimed, cutting into Shura's cycling thoughts. "It's already eight o'clock."

"So it is," Botan said, checking her own watch.

"I promised Yuusuke I'd cover for him at half past, so I really must be going," Keiko said reluctantly, gathering her bag and throwing her long forgotten napkin away. "Bye!" she told them all, hurrying out the door.

"It is kinda late," Botan mused, "For what was supposed to be an afternoon outing, anyway."

"Guess we'll all be going, then," Shizuru said. "Come on, Yukina, I'll walk you back to Genkai's," she offered, getting up and throwing her trash away.

"It was nice meeting you, prince," Yukina said, hoping that using his title would make him feel better. "Thanks again for the ice cream, Botan."

The two of them waved as they left, the jingling of the door announcing their exit.

Sucking on her straw, Botan attempted retrieve any of her milkshake she may have missed, an obnoxious sound attacking Shura's ears. Unsuccessful, she tossed the empty container into a nearby trash can.

"Well, we'd better get going, too," Botan said, sliding out of the booth and picking up her bags. "Aren't you going to finish your cone?" she asked.

"No," Shura replied, throwing the offending cone into the trash can as they left the establishment.

Suddenly, Botan felt sorry for laughing.

When they were a little ways away from the shop, Botan ducked into a nearby alley. "Quick, Shura, give me your bags," she implored him, looking around for people.

Not really wanting to hear an explanation as to why should would suddenly want his bags, Shura handed them to her with no question. The moment they touched her hands, they disappeared in the exact same manner as the boxes from yesterday.

"Why didn't you just do that earlier?" Shura hissed at her.

"Too many people around," she replied, noting the lull in sidewalk traffic.

"Hope Kurama's not too worried," Botan stated randomly as they were walking, "The time I told him to expect us back was over an hour ago."

Shura snorted, "I doubt _he_ would care."

"You know, whatever you've heard about his exploits in Makai really isn't valid today," Botan said in the youko's defense. "Being with humans has really changed him. Heck, it'll probably change you, too."

"I don't _want_ to change," Shura snarled at her, stopping to glare at the back of her head.

She looked back at him, "I never said you did." She shrugged, and that seemed to be the end of conversation for the rest of the way.

**OOOOO**

"Anyone home?" Botan called as she stepped into Kurama's foyer after Shura, pulling her key out of the doorknob. Receiving no answer, she materialized Shura's bags and handed them to him, "Take these to your room. I'll go find some hangers."

Shura did as he was told and followed the hallway to his room, noticing with distain that out of all the soft places in the house, the cat chose to sleep in _his_ bed. With unnecessary malice, he dumped his clothes onto the bed with as much disturbance as possible, rousing the feline. It regarded Shura with an apathetic stare before setting its head down and closing its eyes.

"I pilfered these from Kurama's room," Botan said upon entering. She picked up a random article of clothing and hung it properly, "I hope he doesn't need them. Here," she said, handing half of them to Shura, "Help me hang these. When we're done, I'll make you something to eat—just ice cream isn't good for a growing boy."

"Oh. I see you have a bedmate," Botan commented when she saw Alfador.

"He won't go away," Shura complained.

"Guess that must mean he likes you."

"I highly doubt that."

"Oh, darn it," Botan suddenly exclaimed as the pile of clothing became smaller, "We didn't get you any night clothes." She walked over to the half full closet and scrounged around. "Here we go," she said, handing him a t-shirt and sweatpants, "This'll have to do until next time I drag you out."

At least she wasn't trying to sugarcoat the truth about shopping. Shura almost smiled at that.

"C'mon," she said, hanging up the last of his clothes, "I'll make you something while we wait for Kurama."

He followed her into the kitchen and sat down at the table. It felt like it had been at least a year since he had last been there.

Botan fiddled around in the cabinets, looking for plates and the like. "Oh, Kurama, you of all people shouldn't be one to prolong this stereotype…" she said dejectedly upon inspecting the refrigerator. It was nearly empty, sans for the pizza box, beer, and lone milk carton.

"What is it?" Shura asked.

"Oh, nothing you'd find particularly amusing."

As if on cue, Kurama entered, his arms laden with plastic shopping bags. "I'm sorry I'm late," he said, setting the bags down on the counter.

"Is Shura being here going to make you make some lifestyle changes, Mr. Bachelor?" Botan asked, once again opening the fridge and waving a beer at him. "I would have congratulated you for having milk, but I can only assume it was for your cat."

Kurama laughed at her. "I realize my refrigerator is looking rather Spartan, and I was going to go shopping yesterday, but…"

"You were too angry at Koenma to do anything productive," Botan finished for him, as if reading his mind. "Don't worry," she waved him off, "I know the feeling well. Let me take care of those," she said, pulling out a chair for Kurama and putting the groceries away.

"Have you had dinner yet?" Botan asked the youko, who answered with a no. "Good then. I'll make you some."

"Really, Botan," Kurama interjected, "You shouldn't bother with me."

"I was going to make Shura an' me something to eat anyway. Well, I was only planning on it before you came," she laughed, "I have nothing against pizza and cold beer, but I don't think Lord Yomi would appreciate me feeding his only son such garbage."

Botan put a few pots on the stove and began cooking rice and some vegetables. Before long, she dropped the knife she was cutting with and let out a yelp of surprise, causing both Kurama and Shura to jump.

"What's wrong?" Kurama asked, standing up to help her.

"Oh, nothing worth worrying about. Just go get me a band-aid or something," she answered, sticking her bleeding index finger into her mouth.

Kurama returned shortly with the requested item, handing it to Botan.

"Man," she laughed as she wrapped the band-aid around her finger, "I've nearly forgotten what it was like to bleed. Sure makes you feel alive, huh? That really does smart."

"Coming from anyone else, that would have been an odd comment," Kurama remarked offhandedly, going back to sit down.

"Very funny," she told him. She started to laugh again, "What's even funnier, though, is that the last time I can remember bleeding, it was when we first met. You remember that?"

"I do."

"There I was, trying to keep Keiko human long enough for Yuusuke to beat the snot out of Hiei, and then you—_an ex-con_—come out of nowhere, _bleeding_ all over the place, and of all things, offered to help."

"Just doing what mother would have wanted me to do, I suppose," Kurama commented.

"…What happened after that?" Shura blurted out suddenly, dumbfounded at himself for voicing interest.

Botan blinked in surprise. "Oh, the standard 'good wins over bad'. Or, in Yuusuke's case, 'bad wins over worse'. Anyway, Kurama and I were able to get Keiko to hold on until Yuusuke came with an antidote. Then I hauled an unconscious Hiei to Reikai to be dealt with by Koenma. Then I bandaged my poor ol' hand," Botan finished, adding more vegetables to the pot and stirring.

"Yuusuke…" Shura mused aloud, "Isn't he the demon that my papa fought?"

"Part demon," Botan corrected, "But yes, the very same."

After receiving his answer, Shura went quiet.

"That should just about do it," Botan said, spooning out what she had made into three equal portions and setting the plates on the table. "What would you like to drink?"

"Water will be good—I doubt anything else I bought has had a chance to chill," Kurama said, handing his glass to Botan while Shura did the same.

"So, how was your day?" Kurama asked to either of them.

"Terrific," Botan answered.

"Eh," Shura said ineloquently, shrugging his shoulders.

"Though I don't particularly like this whole school thing," Botan elaborated after swallowing a bite of food, "I usually would be happy to go, because it meant just hanging out with Yuusuke and Keiko. Sitting through the actual day is a chore."

"The teacher talked about him," Shura said to Botan.

"Oh, that's right. He heard the name Minamino and was just ecstatic. So were the girls, for that matter," Botan explained. "Mr. Tanaka was his name, but I could see that our other teachers today had a sort of bounce in their step when they found out a Minamino was in their presence."

"I wish they would stop that. After my mother remarried, they wouldn't leave my step-broth—ow! What was that for?" Kurama asked Botan with a frown.

"What was what for?" she questioned back, giving him a smile Shura could not see. "Anyway, how was _your _day, Kurama?"

"It was a Monday," he said simply, though that explained it all to Botan. Dropping conversation right there seemed to be the general consensus, and they continued to eat in silence.

Shura yawned, bringing Botan's attention to him. "You should go to bed. It's almost ten, and we've got to do this all over again tomorrow. And don't forget about that homework. It's due at the end of the week."

Sleeping was the best idea he had heard all day, so he excused himself to Botan and disappeared into his room, making a disgruntled noise of acknowledgement in regards to the homework.

"So," Kurama started as Botan cleared their dishes, "What exactly was that kick for?"

"I'm sorry," Botan apologized. "You'll think this is funny though, I think. I sure thought it was," she allowed herself to laugh a little. "Your brother is in our class."

"What a coincidence. And?"

"By a chance he happened to sit next to our young charge. I thought this was rather funny at first, but later in the day Shura told me that your brother had been staring at him. I mean _really_ staring," Botan explained, sitting down again and folding her arms on the table. "And I know you might be thinking it's because Shura's new, but so am I, and he hasn't done anything to me. I think it's safe to say that he can see Shura for what he really is, and is suspicious. But what I don't know for sure is if we can let him know the truth or not. Shura being here is supposed to be a secret, you know. It's not that I don't trust your brother, it's just that it would be best to keep people who do know to a minimum."

Kurama pondered this for a moment while he drank the last of his water, "How about you ask Koenma if it's okay, and if it is, we'll tell him. If it's not, then… I suppose I could try my best to keep him in the dark somehow. If you're right that he suspects Shura of being a demon, he'll probably alert me pretty soon."

"That's a fine idea, Kurama," Botan said, reaching into her dress pocket to pull out a cell phone. "And, while we're on the topic of fine ideas, do you have a cell phone? If so, go get it."

"I do," Kurama said, standing up only to return moments later, phone in hand.

Botan swapped them. "Put your number in that, while I do the same. Shura and I were also late coming back, so this'll hopefully prevent any future catastrophes in which we may need to find each other. I'm also putting the Kuwabara's in yours, just in case, okay?"

"That's fine," Kurama said, returning her phone.

"Now that that's settled, I really must be going," Botan announced, getting up and pushing her chair in.

Kurama also stood and walked her to the door. "Thanks for dinner. I normally only get that kind of treatment when I'm at my mother's."

"Oh, you flatterer," she admonished, waving her hand at him. "With compliments like that, I could make a habit out of it," she giggled, materializing her oar and jumping over the railing outside Kurama's apartment. "Good night!" she called back to him, disappearing into the night sky.

He gently shut the apartment behind him and flopped down on the couch, turning on the TV and further unwinding after a long day. However, this relaxed feeling was short-lived as the phone rang.

Reluctantly, Kurama rose to answer it. "Hello?"

"Hi Shuu—err, Kura—um, brother!"

"Kurama is just fine, Shuuichi," the youko laughed. "What are you doing calling so late?" Kurama asked, though he had a very good idea as to why.

"Well, I know this is going to sound stupid, but…"

**OOOOO**

**Comments:** When I began this in my notebook, the date was **November 5, 2004.** Haha… _ha_. I thought this chapter was awfully boring. Especially the first half. I do actually have something interesting planned. Predictable, but better than this. I'm still bad at transitions, but eh.

I went through and edited a lot of things in all of the chapters, but I know I couldn't have gotten them all. If you see a mistake or twenty, please tell me.

Yeah. I meant for that "year" thing at the table to be a bad joke at my expense.


	5. Demons

Sunshine – Chapter Five: Demons

**OOOOO**

Virtually out of sight, Hiei allowed himself an almost invisible smile as he turned over in bed, figuring the small rising of his mouth's edges would not slight his fearsome image if no one were there to see it happen. Though it was a habit of his to rise with the sun, it had been quite some time since he had felt so good about greeting the day. On the inside, anyway—he still had three long scratches across the soft flesh of his abdomen, and although Mukuro had offered to have him healed with her machines, Hiei considered it an insult to allow her to take such drastic measures over a wound the rugrat had given him days prior. He lingered in bed a little longer, pulling the blankets he had kicked off over the course of the night back over his body. Getting comfortable, he allowed his mind to wander to last night.

It was the night before that his lady had told him that Shura had been successfully moved to the Ningenkai and, despite the fact that Kurama had unfortunately been landed with the job of keeping the little hellion out of trouble, Hiei could not have been happier. Ever since Prince Shura had learned that he would be met with resistance upon crossing the border, he seemed to have made a game out of how many times he could land a hit on Hiei. At first, the fire demon had been more than happy to give the boy a beating—he found it amusing how brash the prince was, attacking so sloppily, like a wild animal. Later though, he found that Shura had started study him as they were fighting, and sometimes he went so far as to preempt Hiei's attacks. Before Hiei knew it, their duels quickly evolved from one-sided skirmishes to all out war.

Hiei had been shocked to see all of the raw power Shura possessed, and he sometimes wondered whether or not the prince could even control such force. On occasion, Hiei would catch Shura's eyes widen with alarm upon unleashing a wave of energy, as if he had not meant for it to happen. Upon further experimentation, Hiei concluded that Shura had some semblance of control, but could not seem to regulate how much force he used. Hiei found that strange, as he remembered the boy had appeared in control at the Makai Tournament. After recalling that, he passed off Shura's mistakes as nothing more than flukes.

However, flukes or not, it was dangerous for Hiei to allow such destructive power to be used so frequently, thus he limited himself to short-range combat, hoping Shura would stick to using his fists. This led to considerably more injuries, but Hiei found that he preferred it that way, as it seemed to take Shura much longer to recover from cuts received from the fire demon's katana.

After Shura's first few adventures into Mukuro's territory, Hiei became the unofficial captain of the so-called 'Shura Patrol', which eventually dwindled down to just him, the normal guardsmen dropping like flies. After the first month, the joy of sparring with someone on his level wore off for Hiei. 'Shura Patrol' became a chore for him, and he often found himself regretting just not killing the boy when he had the chance. Yomi could clone himself another kid for all Hiei cared. He had more important jobs to do than baby-sit some powerhouse of a boy who could not keep himself occupied elsewhere. Though she showed no sign of it, Hiei could also tell Mukuro hated to have him deal with Shura so often, but she knew that other than herself they were the only ones in the kingdom who could hope to subdue the prince.

But, that was over and done with. At least, temporarily.

Feeling as if he would dose off he did not get up, Hiei rolled out of bed and onto his feet, padding over to where his day clothes were. Slipping them on with little event, he strolled out of his room, katana at his side.

As usual, he was the second to the private dining area in Mukuro's fortress, the lady of the castle already up and mulling over papers while sipping at her drink. Hiei took the seat across from her.

"Good morning, Hiei," she greeted, not needing to look up. "I trust you slept quite well."

He smiled at her, and only her. "Quite well," he echoed.

A servant approached Hiei with a plate of food, placing it in front of him, followed by a glass.

"I truly hate to do this to you," Mukuro began, "but it appears Koenma requires your services." She indicated by waving the letter that had informed her of Shura's whereabouts last night. "I would have given it to you yesterday, but I wanted you to rest easy."

"I appreciate that. What could possibly be bothering him now?" Hiei questioned, exasperated, mumbling something along the lines of 'having a ridiculously long debt for a bloodstain'.

"How about you tell me?" Mukuro asked gently, handing him the letter.

Hiei made a disapproving sound, but accepted the letter anyway. The path to literacy was a long and arduous one. Though Koenma used many big words to make himself sound important, Hiei did not have a lot of difficulty piecing together the gist of the letter.

"He wants me to go investigate some demons suspected of tampering with the barrier," Hiei summarized. "He also uses 'would' too much."

"It's diplomatic. He doesn't want to sound too bossy," Mukuro informed him, amused at his frankness. "Pretty soon I'll make you write instead of talk," she told him nonchalantly.

Hiei frowned at her. "That almost makes me want to reconsider my stay here. Also, bossy and Koenma are synonymous."

"Do you think you can handle it?" Mukuro asked him, changing the topic. "Perhaps you should rest in one of the rehibilit—"

Hiei cut her off. "I'll be fine," he told her, inwardly touched by her concern. "They're just low-levels with an appetite for human flesh."

Mukuro concurred. "I suppose these lowlifes aren't capable of causing half the damage that rapscallion did." She brought her fingers to her temples at the memory. "Let us all hope your fox friend whips him into shape."

"I doubt he won't be too frazzled," Hiei commented, getting up from the table. "If you have no need for me here, I'll be off," he said, stuffing the letter into his pocket.

"You are free to leave," she told him. "Do watch yourself."

He nodded at her and departed the room, leaving a gust of air in his wake.

**OOOOO**

Meanwhile, on the other side of the barrier, Kurama woke up to the smell of cooking. Sparing a glance at his clock—6:50 AM—he slipped out of bed and switched off his alarm, figuring he did not need that extra forty minutes, anyway. Changing out of his pajamas, he left his room quietly, taking extra care not rouse Shura.

He strode into the kitchen and was met by Botan, confirming his initial suspicions. Chances were it was not a burglar kind enough to make him breakfast.

"Good morning," Kurama said quietly, sitting down where he had the night before.

"Oh!" Botan jumped before turning around. "Good morning to you, too. Did I wake you up?"

"Yeah," he said, seeing her open her mouth to apologize. "But I don't mind. Smells nice. I don't recall buying any pancake batter though."

"I brought some stuff from my place like I did yesterday," she said. "You've got awfully boring food. I plan to enjoy having taste buds while I'm here."

Kurama laughed at her, "I'll keep that in mind next time I'm at the store."

"You'd better," she threatened, going back to flipping the pancakes. "Or else you may find yourself over the stove again."

Kurama got up and poured himself some orange juice. "Did Koenma say anything concerning Shuuichi?" he asked Botan, taking a sip from his glass. "Shuuichi called me last night. A lot sooner than I predicted he would. He told me everything he thought about Shura."

_"Well, I know this is going to sound stupid, but…" Shuuichi started into the phone, hesitating._

_"But what?" Kurama prompted him._

_"I think there's a demon at my school," he said as seriously as he could, not knowing if his brother would believe him._

_Kurama made himself sound surprised. "What makes you think that?" he queried._

_"He has pointy ears and a horn. His eyes are different, too. They're **pink**," Shuuichi said. "And apparently I'm the only one who's noticed."_

_"Has he done anything bad?"_

_Shuuichi paused to think. "Well, no. Not yet, anyway. It would be rather silly for a demon bent on destroying humanity to enroll in school… I just want to know what he's doing here." Another pause. "I'd ask, but what if he wigs out and blows something up?"_

_Kurama laughed aloud at this._

_"That's not funny!" Shuuichi yelled into his receiver. _

_"Sorry, sorry," Kurama apologized, taking a moment to listen for any movement from Shura._

_"Listen, Shuuichi. I can't predict the intentions of this demon, but I'll call you back tomorrow after I've contacted the proper authorities," Kurama lied, referencing Koenma._

_"Okay," Shuuichi said. "Thanks for believing me," he added sheepishly, "Everyone I've questioned about this new Minamino has looked at me like I was crazy."_

_"Oh!" Shuuichi exclaimed after realizing what he just said. "I forgot about that. This demon said his surname was Minamino. That **is** yours and Mom's last name, right? You aren't really related, are you?"_

_Kurama feigned ignorance. "No, I'm pretty sure I've never heard of him."_

_"Oh. Well, I guess that's all then. I'm sorry for calling so late."_

_"It's alright. You can call me whenever you need to. Good night, Shuuichi."_

_"G'night, Sh—**Kurama**."_

"Koenma said it would be fine," Botan said, setting a plate of pancakes in front of Kurama. She giggled. "George even suggested that they should be playmates. Like as if they were five-year-olds! Well, one of them is, but still…"

"From the way they seem to feel about each other, I doubt that would be very productive," Kurama commented.

"I know. It would be funny though," Botan added, sitting down to enjoy her breakfast.

Shura stomped into the kitchen around 7:30, sitting down as far away from Kurama as he possibly could. Alfador followed shortly after.

"Good morning, Sunshine!" Botan welcomed him, getting up to fix his breakfast.

Shura frowned at the name. "_Morning_," he muttered to Botan, not feeling anything good about it. He watched the two of them cut apart their pancakes before mimicking.

Shortly afterward Botan and Shura left for school, leaving Kurama to his own devices. He thought about calling his brother, but then reminded himself that Shuuichi was probably already on his way to school. Kurama checked his planner, noting that he had to go a class at ten. Until then though, he was free. Not having anything better to do, he flipped the TV on to the local news station.

"For those of you just joining us, our topic for this morning is yet two more kidnappings in a recent chain of abductions. Last night a young man walking home from work was reportedly "yanked out of nowhere". Eyewitnesses claim that he screamed while some invisible force tugged him into the alley on Fifteenth Street. In the same area, a woman was reported missing by her roommate just this morning, the details of her disappearance unknown. This brings the abduction count to seven over the last three days…"

Kurama made a face. _Seven?_ Someone was awfully busy.

"Though there has been no found connection between the victims themselves," the newscaster continued, "It is safe to say that the kidnapper or kidnappers have only been striking in the Fifteenth Street Park area. Police have searched the premises, but their examination has yielded no leads."

The camera changed from the newsroom view to a live shot of the alley where the sixth victim disappeared, the people passing by going along at a quicker pace than they normally would have. Kurama was about to change the station when he saw something that definitely should not have been there. A flash of green darted into the alley, disappearing with a spark of light.

Feeling that his immaculate grades could afford to suffer, Kurama left to investigate.

**OOOOO**

Hiei flew through the forests north of Mukuro's fortress with unparalleled speed. He had hoped to reach the place Koenma specified by noon, and judging by the sun he was making incredible time. The area of interest seemed to have popped up over night, demons from the area consolidating to form a sort of village.

Koenma had written that his spies had reported suspicious activity just a few days ago, but only recently did a spy return with evidence to suggest something more than just a simple gathering of demons. One of his scouts had come across the body of a human girl. The letter did not go into excruciating detail, but Koenma wrote that she appeared to have been brutalized and half eaten upon discovery.

_From the desk of Koenma, Hall of Judgment, Reikai:_

_Lady Mukuro,_

_I would like to inform you that Prince Shura has been removed from the Makai indefinitely. I would also like to apologize to you and your heir for the trouble he has caused. Consequently, I would ask you not to bring this series of events up with Yomi in the near future, as his son's sudden change in disposition has him rather distraught, though he has hidden it well. In regards to the prince's whereabouts, I would like to inform Hiei that he has been sent to Youko Kurama's human residence, where he will reside until otherwise moved. If Hiei should ever want to visit his friend, I would advise that you inform him of that beforehand._

_My second reason for writing today is that I have a request for Hiei. You may also read it, for it is your decision to show him this letter in the end._

_Hiei,_

_I do realize that both you and Kurama were acquitted of all charges against you for your outstanding service as one-half of our detective team. However, I would like to ask your assistance in the following matter._

_It has come to the Reikai's attention that there have been several suspicious instances in which demons were spotted arguing amongst themselves. Though this would normally not be a reason to worry, I sent two of my spies down to further investigate the matter. Though they did not enter the inner circle of this group of demons, they made a few startling discoveries. The first one of which they only overheard. They reported to me that the majority of the demons gathered were hired, but there was one thing that really struck us as odd—most of these hired swords barely broke the E ranking. Later they discovered the carcass of a human girl. She had been killed only recently, and she appeared to be partially eaten. Of course, I did not rule out the fact that she could have slipped into the Makai by accident. There **are** points in the barrier that weak beings can creep through, but the chances of finding one are very slim. However, that theory was proved invalid, as additional scattered remains were also found shortly thereafter. _

_I will spare you in explaining how we came to our current conclusion, as I am sure you have already figured it out. On the off chance you have not, here is a long story short: a weak spot was found and E-class or weaker demons are getting free meals because of it. We are not sure whether this whole orchestration has a stronger ringleader, but I advise you to be careful. The scouts say that there are at least thirty demons there, but more may join them between now and the present. The place where they are gathered is about fifty miles north of Mukuro's territory. Your mission is to simply put an immediate stop to their operation. Kill if you must. As much as it pains me to say this, I will work out the details later._

_Koenma_

Hiei, figuring he was nearing his destination, slowed his pace to a jog, keeping his eye out for any sort of guards. Soon enough he spotted one, a big lumbering mountain of a demon. The fire demon approached the behemoth with caution, but he appeared to be asleep. Not wasting anytime, Hiei drew out his katana, planning to kill the slumbering demon before he could become much of a nuisance. Hiei frowned, not normally approving of such easy kills, but he wanted to prolong his discovery as much as he could. With a leap, he sliced at the giant's neck, easily decapitating him. His massive body fell with a languid motion, thumping to the ground rather audibly, acidic blood gushing forth from the open wound and scorching the ground upon contact.

Hiei hid himself behind a tree and waited for any response. Hearing none, he walked along in the shadows of the foliage, taking care to tread lightly.

After a few minutes of walking, the forest began to clear, whittling away at his cover and giving shape to several poorly constructed bungalows that encircled a larger mansion. Taking a moment to plan his next action, Hiei sauntered into the open. He was spotted immediately.

"Hey, you!" a tall and lanky demon called.

Hiei stood impassively as he was approached. "Yes?" he asked, giving the demon a haughty look.

The taller demon narrowed his eyes. "What do you think you're doing here?" he questioned, squatting down so he could be on eye level with the intruder.

"I'm here to offer my services," Hiei answered without hesitation. "I hear there's a good meal to be had."

The other demon whipped his head back and cackled wildly. "There is, if you're willing to wait for it."

"What's going on over there?" another demon shouted, coming to stop by his fellow inquisitor. He was short and bulky, with a blue tint to his skin.

"This guy wants in," the first demon said.

The newcomer walked around Hiei, inspecting him. "Heh. This guy looks like he couldn't hurt a fly. What class are you, kid? _Z_?"

Hiei scowled at him.

"Aw, don't be that way. We could always use more guys like you. Right now we only have five who are able to work the barrier," the blue demon said. "Take 'im to the main house and let Shiro and Kage know we got another one."

Hiei allowed the taller demon to lead him to the center of the makeshift village where a large and dilapidated manse stood. It had obviously been there before its current occupants took residency. The upper left portion had caved in and all of its windows were broken, ivy twining around its decaying structure.

The inside fared no better, Hiei noticed, the walls bearing claw marks and bloodstains, appearing more frequently as he descended deeper into the house. He could hear voices up ahead, and his hand moved to his katana that rested under his cloak.

"Don't get any funny ideas now," the tall demon said as a warning, noticing Hiei's hand moving under the cloth. "You may be able to kill demons of your level with that thing, but it may not do you any good around some of us."

Hiei said nothing and let his hand drop to the side.

"Hey, Shiro!" the demon called out, swatting a door open and beckoning Hiei to follow. "We've got another 'runner'."

"Do we now?" Shiro asked happily, narrowing his putrid yellow eyes at the small demon that stood before him. "And what would your name be?"

"Yuusuke," Hiei lied.

"Well, Yuusuke," Shiro started, "to fit in here there are three rules: one, never take more than one human at a time. We don't want to bring unwanted attention to ourselves, you see. Two, never stay in the Ningenkai for more than a few minutes. You may leave the area of the portal, but do not stray too far, for there are still active agents of the Reikai living among the humans." He paused and smiled, sharp rows of teeth gleaming in the dim torchlight. "And three, don't even think of taking a bite out of your catch until you are told. It becomes difficult for us when we cannot… Keep inventory."

"And what do I get in exchange for obeying these rules?" Hiei asked.

"Our protection, of course, should anyone from Reikai catch wind of this operation. You help us, we protect you, and we all can enjoy the taste of human meat from time to time…"

Shiro spared a glance around the room, its other occupants laughing with beady eyes, hanging onto his every word.

Without warning Hiei unsheathed his katana and charged at Shiro, slicing a red line across his chest before turning around and stabbing him through the back of the neck. The other demons immediately rose to their feet and rushed at him.

Instinctively Hiei let out a burst of fire, sending the first wave of demons to the floor, those unfortunate enough to survive clutching their charred faces with their blistering hands and screaming. Undaunted, the remaining demons converged on Hiei, ripping at his clothes, successfully tearing his cloak and scarf. He swatted them with his free hand and slashed with his other, the sound of fluttering paper meeting his ears as Koenma's letter fell out of his pocket. He let out a cry of pain as one demon clawed at his stomach, the wounds there still not completely healed. Kneeing that particular demon in the face, he regained his balance, jumped over the ring of demons surrounding him, and put himself in a corner. With his back safely covered, he doubled his efforts, swiftly cutting down each demon as they approached him, his attackers only having so much room to strike.

Shortly, he had successfully cleared the room, but he counted only nineteen bodies. Knowing there were more heads to be severed, he proceeded quietly to the next passage. As he walked down the hallway, a banging noise met his ears.

It originated from a door at the end of the hall, a steady pounding that suggested someone was throwing himself or herself against it. Hiei tried the handle, but it was locked.

The noise suddenly stopped. "Is someone there?" a voice asked.

"Yes." Hiei answered. "Stand back. I'm going to knock the door down."

"O-okay…"

When he felt that an ample amount of time to move had passed, Hiei jumped into the air and gave the door a swift kick, the old wood breaking immediately.

As he entered the room, he immediately rushed forward, something falling to the floor behind him. Angry that he had almost been hit, he turned around and snarled. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Umm…" a human boy answered, hiding what appeared to be a piece of wood behind his back. "Nothing?" he ventured, standing up and brushing his clothes off with one hand.

"I suggest you don't try anything like that again if you value your life," Hiei spat out, giving the green-eyed boy a scathing glare.

"You mean you're not with those other guys?" the boy asked.

"Do I _look_ like I want to eat you?" Hiei spat out.

The human did not answer him.

Hiei let out an aggravated sigh. "Listen. Just say close to me. There are still demons around that wish to make a snack out of you."

"Alright," the boy said, bringing the wood to his front like a baseball bat.

They walked side by side through the building, the sounds of their footsteps the only thing to be heard. The human would peak his head into rooms as they passed them, much to Hiei's irritation.

"Are you looking to get yourself killed?" Hiei finally asked him.

"No…" he said quietly. "I'm looking for someone…"

Hiei said nothing as they continued forward. He let his hand wander down to his katana. It had been too long since he had killed his last demon, and he was getting suspicious.

"Azami!" the boy shouted out of nowhere, running ahead into the darkness.

"Dammit, kid! Stop!" Hiei yelled at him, drawing his katana and following.

Moments later Hiei heard the human let out a horrifying scream.

Following the sound, the fire demon found him pinned between the wall and another demon. The human boy struggled against his captor, punching at his sides while the demon bit his shoulder.

"You killed her! You _killed_ her!" he screamed, now hitting with enough force to knock the demon back. Surprised, the demon raised his claws in preparation to strike. The boy grabbed for the bludgeon that had been knocked out of his hand, trying his hardest to ignore the pain in his shoulder.

However, before either of them could strike, Hiei ran his katana through the demon's chest, pushing him off to the side.

"Are you okay?" Hiei asked the human, who was now crying.

Bringing his hands to cover his mouth, the boy did not answer and continued to weep.

"But I just _saw_ her…" Hiei heard him murmur before sobbing again.

Turning around, Hiei noticed why the demon had been in this room in the first place.

It was a woman. She was mostly naked with claw marks marring what could have otherwise been beautiful skin, fragments of clothes hanging off her at places. Her hair was caked with blood and strewn over her face and exposed breasts. There were bites all over her body, most of which had taken a fair amount of flesh with them. One of her arms had been broken and chewed on, now bent at an unnatural angle. There was a hole in her abdomen the size of a fist and her entrails were exposed and mangled. Hiei turned away.

"Come on," he said sternly, grabbing the boy by his uninjured arm and pulling him to his feet. Removing his ruined scarf, Hiei tied it tightly around the human's bleeding shoulder. "We're leaving."

Hiei walked back into the hallway and waited for the human to follow.

The boy looked away from the gruesome sight and wiped his eyes, turning to trail the demon that had saved him.

When they exited the manor, Hiei scouted around for other demons, but it appeared that upon hearing the ruckus, they had all fled. All for the better, Hiei supposed, as he did not want to battle through the rest while trying to protect a wounded human.

"Come here," Hiei ordered, sheathing his sword and beckoning the human closer. The boy let out a surprised yelp as he was roughly pulled onto the fire demon's back. It was an awkward position for Hiei, as the boy was a few inches taller than he was, the human's legs sticking out comically between Hiei's arms and sides.

"Move and I'll drop you." Hiei said as a final warning, sprinting off into the forest.

**OOOOO**

Shura idly munched on a cookie as he wandered the hallways of Meiou High School, forgoing the other half of his bento in favor of satisfying his sweet tooth. Botan would probably scold him later, but he did not particularly care.

He did not feel like eating lunch outside today, and instead decided to explore the school. Perhaps he could find an even nicer and more secluded place to eat! Checking his watch, he figured that he had a good twenty minutes left before he would have to return to his classroom. He was currently on the third floor and going up stairs to the next, absentmindedly following his feet wherever they would lead him.

Before he knew what hit him, he was sprawled out on the floor directly above the stairs, the half-eaten cookie and bento flying out of his hands. The prince was flipped over onto his back, his hands pinned above his head. "What in the hells do you think you're doing?" he all but screamed, struggling futilely against his captor. _Damn those wards._

"Where is he?" the brunet above him questioned coldly.

"Where is who?" Shura asked, confused.

"You know who I'm talking about!"

"No, I don't," the prince said, feeling uncomfortable about his helplessness.

"Yes you do! You show up, and he disappears! You were at the shop last night! You probably followed him! _I KNOW YOU'RE A DEMON_!"

Shocked, Shura pushed himself up suddenly, knocking the taller boy off him. Not looking back, he jumped down the first flight of stairs, running to find Botan.

He raced through the halls hoping no one would catch him, stepping as lightly as he could with the tips of his toes, a tactic his father had demonstrated to him many times before. He burst through the doors and out into the courtyard in a panic, stumbling slightly as he jumped the stairs leading onto the grounds.

Spotting Botan's hair easy enough, he ran in her direction.

"What is it, Shura?" she asked him as he approached, sincerely concerned.

"I…" the prince started, catching his breath, "I want to leave."

Botan flinched at the panic in his voice.

Shura looked at her with imploring eyes, too prideful to do much else.

The ferry girl stood up and dusted off her skirt. "I'll see what I can do," she told him, pulling out her phone. Looking around to make sure no one saw her, she dialed Kurama's number. "Just go back to the classroom and wait for me," Botan said, shooing the prince away with a wave of her hand.

Shura nodded slightly and gave her an uneasy smile, heading back inside.

The prince was the first to return to the classroom, his teacher greeting him with a friendly "Minamino."

Shura looked at her in acknowledgement and took his seat.

Botan strode in a few minutes later, giving the teacher a smile and heading back towards Shura. "Kurama will be here shortly," she whispered, giving him a reassuring pat on the head and taking her seat, immediately picking up her pencil and twirling it like a baton.

Students filed into the classroom as lunchtime ran out, Shura's attacker sitting down in his normal seat and giving the prince a contemptuous glare.

Shura shrunk into his desk.

The prince spent the next twenty minutes nervously looking between his notebook and his watch, barely comprehending the lesson and scribbling down illegible notes as he chewed on his lower lip.

An office assistant came into the room and handed their math teacher, Ms. Takahashi, a note.

"Minamino," she said, breaking Shura out of his thoughts, "your cousin is here to pick you up." A few of the girls in the class giggled at the thought of Shuuichi Minamino.

Shura nodded at her and stood up, gathering his things and accidentally locking eyes with the brown-haired human next to him. The older boy gave him another dirty look. Quickly averting his eyes, Shura shuffled out of the room, catching a small wave from Botan out of the corner of his eye.

He found Kurama at the front gate engaged in conversation with one of the staff members. Shura stood there awkwardly until someone noticed him.

"Oh, there he is." Kurama said, pointing at Shura. "It was nice speaking with you again, Ms. Kawashima." He bowed politely as the woman waved and excused herself.

"What happened?" the fox asked immediately, escorting Shura outside to the sidewalk.

Shura said nothing.

"Listen, if you don't tell me, I'll just send you back," Kurama threatened, looking none too pleased to have his time wasted.

"That human," Shura responded simply.

"What human?"

"The one who keeps on staring at me. Botan may have told you about him."

"Oh. Yes, she did tell me. What did he do?"

Shura frowned. "That idiot _attacked_ me."

Kurama did a double take. "He _what_?"

"I was just walking along and then he jumped on me. He kept on asking me about _someone_," Shura said angrily.

A moment of silence passed between them.

"…He also knows I'm a demon."

Kurama did not really know how to respond to that. He would have to have a talk with Shuuichi. As much as he thought Shura deserved a good punch or two, it was wrong of his brother to do that. To the fox's knowledge, Shura had done nothing to warrant that kind of treatment in the Ningenkai.

"Are you hurt?" Kurama asked him.

"I'm _fine_," Shura insisted, glaring up at his guardian. "_You_ should be worried about what I'm going to do to that human once I get him alone in Gandara."

Kurama just rolled his eyes.

**OOOOO**

The moment they entered the apartment together, Shura took off toward his room and Kurama went to the television, picking up the remote and pressing the _RK_ button. His call was directed almost immediately, and he was given a nice view of Koenma frantically sealing documents, more than likely trying to meet a deadline. Something beeped on the diminutive prince's side of the line, breaking the steady thumping of his frenetic stamping.

Koenma let out an aggravated sound. "What part of 'emergencies only' doesn't he _understand_?"

Kurama cleared his throat.

The prince jumped in his seat, dislodging his hat with the sudden movement.

"Oh, Kurama! Heh… What seems to be the problem?" the toddler asked, adjusting his hat.

"I trust you already know this," Kurama started politely, "but I just want to inform you that there are demons here. Demons that I believe are behind a string of recent kidnappings."

"Oh, yes, I was informed," Koenma said lightly, skimming a document before stamping it with his seal. "Of course, I regret that there was not an immediate discovery of this weak point in the barrier, but I have Hiei taking care of the problem on the other side. Hopefully, there will be no more casualties."

Kurama nodded while digesting that information. "I left one of my more… _carnivorous_ plants there, just in case. Human friendly, of course."

Koenma laughed. "As sharp as ever. I bet Yuusuke doesn't even _watch _the news."

"I just happened upon it, myself," Kurama said in Yuusuke's defense.

"Well if it isn't his highness," Koenma crooned with sarcasm, looking over Kurama's shoulder at Shura, who had just reemerged from his room in more comfortable clothes.

Shura bristled at the toddler's voice, but continued into the kitchen, opening the fridge and grabbing a soda.

Again, Kurama cleared his throat.

Koenma looked back at the fox, embarrassed. "If that's all you have to say then, I hope you don't mind if I take my leave." The Reikai prince closed the connection, not waiting for a response.

Kurama sighed as the television went back to its normal programming. Koenma could be so flippant at times.

"Is something wrong?" Shura questioned, coming into the living room and sitting down in the chair furthest from the fox.

"Nothing concerning your stay. Detective things," Kurama answered vaguely, picking up a study book from his coffee table and flipping it open.

"…What am I supposed to do now?" Shura asked after a while. This was truly his first taste of free time since he arrived here—no Botan to drag him around like a rag doll.

"Here," Kurama said, handing him the remote control. "Watch TV." The youko knew he should have offered something more productive to do, but he had to get ahead to make up for missing classes today and did not really want to bother with Shura's obligatory protest. "I'll be in the kitchen if you need me," the redhead informed the prince, picking up his things and leaving the room.

Shrugging, Shura fiddled around with the remote until he found an appealing channel. Losing interest quickly, he kept on flipping. Boring, but it beat everything else he had done so far.

**OOOOO**

Later in the afternoon, there was a banging on Kurama's door.

"It's open!" the fox responded from the kitchen, figuring it was only Botan without her key.

"Kurama!" Shuuichi exclaimed, shutting his stepbrother's door behind him. "That demon I was talking to you about—he's—" The human boy halted as he rounded the corner.

"He's _here_?"

**OOOOO**

**Comments:** Wow. Cliffhanger. Sorry about that. I hate them, too.

Hiei doesn't know how to read or write? Sure. He may have a sharp tongue, but as a demon raised by bandits, I doubt he has a whole lot of literary skills. Or something. I'm just making crap up, you know.

I think some of the paragraphs could have been bulkier, but I really just wanted to get this posted. I'll build later if it comes to me.

Same classroom, different teachers? Once again, Google-knowledge of Japanese school systems. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Proofread, but that is not foolproof.

I feel I'm on a roll. Of course, by typing that I have jinxed myself. Oh well.


	6. Lackluster

Sunshine – Chapter Six: Lackluster

**OOOOO**

Kurama ran out of the kitchen upon hearing his stepbrother's surprised cry, hoping to explain before things got out of hand. He had honestly planned to introduce the two of them on better terms.

"Shuuichi!" the fox exclaimed as he entered the living room and pulled his stepbrother off Shura, the two of them wrestling around on the floor and making an awful racket.

Having successfully separated the boys, he sat on the carpet between them to make sure they would not go for round two.

"What's going on? Why is he here? _You_ aren't helping him, are you, Kurama?" Shuuichi questioned, giving is brother a hurt look.

"You _know_ him?" Shura shouted in turn, feeling what little trust he had given the fox vanish.

Kurama closed his eyes and sighed heavily. "Listen. Both of you calm down and let me explain."

"Shura," the redhead turned to address the prince, "this is my stepbrother, Hatanaka Shuuichi."

"Shuuichi, this is Prince Shura of Gandara, a city in Makai. He arrived Sunday and will be staying with me indefinitely. I was planning on telling you, mother, and father by at least the end of the week, but I've been busy."

Kurama stood up. "And now that that's settled, there will be no more of _that_ in my house. If I do happen to catch you two fighting, there will be trouble."

The two boys regarded each other warily as Kurama returned to the kitchen.

Shuuichi spoke first. "I'm sorry for hitting you."

"You _should_ be," Shura huffed, getting up and retreating to his room.

"Hmph. Be that way, then!" Shuuichi called after him, standing up and straightening his school uniform. He followed his stepbrother.

"I'm sorry," the brunet apologized as he entered the kitchen, sitting down across from Kurama.

"It's okay. I should have told you earlier."

"So," the fox started after a moment of silence passed between them, "why exactly did you attack him at school?"

Shuuichi's cheeks colored slightly. "So, he told you?"

"Yes," Kurama answered.

"I thought he was involved with the kidnappings," the brunet replied sheepishly, trying to explain. "Five people go missing over the course of a day or two, and then a demon shows up. I see this same demon at the place where a friend of mine works, and then he ends up being the next victim! I just thought that, well…"

"I'm sorry. I didn't know you knew one of them." Kurama interrupted, apologizing.

"It's okay. I just hope Makoto's safe, wherever he is…" Shuuichi trailed off unhappily.

Kurama paused. He did not want to hurt is brother, yet it would be cruel to get his hopes up. "There _are_ demons involved though."

Shuuichi gasped.

"I cannot guarantee the safety of your friend, but what I do know is that Hiei is in Makai right now putting a stop to it."

"…Oh." Shuuichi responded quietly, looking away.

"I'm sorry," Kurama said again.

The human clinched his fists and said nothing.

"Hey," Kurama started, trying to lighten the mood, "How about you call mother and tell her you'll be staying for dinner. We need to catch up anyway, what with school starting and all. What do you say?"

"Sure," Shuuichi agreed. "Where's your phone?"

**OOOOO**

The human boy had passed out halfway through the journey, and Hiei sped up considerably, pushing himself to make it back to Mukuro's fortress by sundown. The demon's scarf was dyed red with blood, and Hiei began to fear for the human's life, his passenger breathing heavily as time went on. Though Hiei would not be blamed for the human's death, the last thing he wanted was to hear Koenma complaining about additional paperwork.

He burst though the fortress gates just as the sun disappeared behind the horizon. "Tell Mukuro I'm in the infirmary!" he ordered to the nearest guard as he raced down the darkened halls.

Hiei entered the hospice, startling the doctor currently on duty.

"Put him in one of the rehabilitators," Hiei said to the scaled demon, gently removing the human from his back and handing the boy over.

The doctor nodded, and walked to one of the giant tanks, stripping the human and hooking him up inside of the container. Once everything was in order, the old demon returned to Hiei.

"That was a human you know, Hiei sir. Don't you think it would have been more appropriate to say 'put him in the oven'?" the fishlike doctor joked as he habitually cracked his knuckles.

Hiei snorted, holding back a grin. He would never admit it, but this old coot was probably his favorite of his Lady's motley staff.

Mukuro ran into the room shortly after that, looking somewhat concerned.

"Lady Mukuro," the doctor greeted.

"Shiramine," she nodded back in acknowledgement, her exposed eye wandering over to Hiei. She let out a sigh of relief.

"When the guards said you were in the infirmary, I was worried. You never come to this place willingly." She smirked. "Usually, someone just drags your corpse here."

"I apologize for that. I was in a hurry." Hiei pointed over to the operating rehabilitator, a faint green glow lighting the room. "There was one survivor."

"I see," Mukuro said, looking back to Hiei. She examined her heir, his clothes a mess and his scarf missing. "Judging by the state of your clothing, I can only assume you were attacked."

"I was. But, when I found the human, I left, for he was wounded. I am not entirely sure if I killed them all, but I plan to return shortly," Hiei told her, walking toward the door.

She grabbed him by the scruff of his torn cloak.

Shocked, he looked up at her.

"Shiramine, make sure Hiei is properly healed before he is allowed to leave this room," the bionic woman said to the doctor, ignoring Hiei's stunned look.

"Mukuro, really, I'm fi—"

Mukuro cut him off. "Also, be sure to check the wounds on his stomach for infections. He has had those for quite a while."

Hiei's jaw dropped slightly.

Mukuro smiled down at him. "I will be giving your report to Koenma while you recover. If you choose ignore my orders, I will have you suspended from training and placed under house arrest."

"These are _orders_?" Hiei asked incredulously.

"They are," she said simply. "I will see you when you are completely healed."

Mukuro sauntered out of the room with a grin on her face, not awaiting further protest.

She returned to her private quarters with little event, hoping to contact Koenma as quickly as possible. She reached out for the screen mounted to her desk, fiddling with the buttons below it. It had been quite some time since she had to contact Koenma herself.

Seconds later, she found herself staring at the Prince of Reikai, who was currently asleep on his desk, ignoring the beeping on his side of the screen.

"Really, Kurama, this is the third time in two days!" he said suddenly, shooting up from his hunched position. "If you call me _one_ more time, I'll be forced to—Oh! Lady Mukuro!"

"Lord Koenma," she answered, amused.

"Is this about Hiei?" Koenma asked, not really knowing why else she would be talking to him.

"It is," Mukuro answered. "As he is currently incapacitated, I am here to give you his report."

"Is he okay?" Koenma asked, genuinely concerned.

"He is fine. According to him, he killed a few, but stumbled across a human. The survivor was wounded, so Hiei immediately brought him back here for treatment," Mukuro explained. "If you would like further investigation, I will send some of my men to destroy any remains of the group."

"I would consider it a favor," Koenma said, grateful.

Mukuro smiled. "I believe I will hold you to that statement. In fact, I think I may have a use for that favor already."

"Oh?" Koenma asked.

"I will have Hiei bring you the human boy when they have both recovered from their injuries. When one of your girls returns the human to the Ningenkai, I would like Hiei to be taken there, too. With all of this Prince Shura business over and done with, I would like him to have a long vacation. I feel that he is overexerting himself here. Also, he has not left my side for more than a few days since the Makai Tournament. I am touched, but I would like him to forget about work for a while. Perhaps even visit his sister. He's been avoiding her ever since she found out the truth about him…" Mukuro trailed off, feeling that that was enough explanation. She did not like to ramble.

"Hmm. I don't see any problem in that," Koenma said, mulling over it briefly. "But, while he is here, may I ask for one more assignment from him?"

"That depends entirely on what you have in mind."

"I would like him to be one of guards that will accompany the team of ferry girls I will be sending to collect the souls of those who were killed in this whole ordeal. In this case, I am only using him as a precaution," the prince told her truthfully.

"See that he will do nothing more than that," Mukuro responded, a hidden warning in her tone.

"Of course," Koenma replied uneasily. "Now, should I inform Hiei's teammates of his eventual arrival?"

"If you feel the need to. Perhaps give Kurama a heads up, if he plans to have both Hiei and Prince Shura under the same roof," Mukuro answered. "Expect them a day from now."

Koenma nodded. "Goodbye."

**OOOOO**

"Anyone alive in there?" Botan called as she waltzed into Kurama's apartment at seven o'clock, clad in her pink kimono. She was rather reluctant to relinquish Shura to Kurama and leave them alone for so long.

"In here!" Kurama called from the kitchen, where he was sitting with his stepbrother.

Botan was startled to see the younger Shuuichi there, and looked at Kurama for a clue how to act.

"He knows," Kurama said simply.

"Oh. Well then…" Botan said, sitting down next to the human teenager.

"Now I know where I've seen you," Shuuichi said suddenly, addressing Botan. "I saw you flying around outside my house once."

"Guilty as charged," Botan answered, bopping herself on the head. "I usually try to say out of sight though."

"She's from Reikai," Kurama explained, "and she's here now to help me keep a close watch on Shura. Normally, she just gives the other detectives and myself messages or assists us with a case."

"Speaking of which, where is our Prince Charming?" Botan asked.

"Shura's encounters with my brother have not exactly been… pleasant. He's been in his room since about five," the fox answered her.

"And you just _left_ him there?" Botan questioned crossly.

"Yes…?" Kurama guessed, not really knowing how he was expected to answer.

Botan got up from the table. "I'll go check on him."

The ferry girl walked down the hall and stopped in front of the only closed door. She knocked. "Can I come in?"

"**No**," came Shura's abrasive reply.

"Pleeeeeeeease?" Botan dragged out annoyingly. "I'll just keep on asking until you let me in."

"Fine," she heard him say, and the door opened to reveal a dour looking prince.

Shura turned around to go back to his bed while Botan entered and closed the door behind her.

"Are you okay?" she asked, sitting down on the bed beside him.

"Of course. Why wouldn't I be?" the prince spat out.

"I was just curious," Botan responded.

A tense silence settled between them, Shura trying his hardest not to look at her and Botan attempting to think of a topic for conversation. She spied the cat that rested close to Shura's stomach. "I see he hasn't left."

"He's not so bad," Shura said, letting his hand fall gently upon Alfador's back.

Botan smiled. "Why don't you come back out? It's almost dinnertime."

"Is _he_ out there?" Shura asked.

"Kurama?"

"No. The other one."

"Yes, _Shuuichi_ is, too. He's staying here for dinner," Botan told him.

"I don't like him," the prince said bluntly.

"Oh, you don't like _anyone_," the blue-haired girl cooed while patting him on the head. "Don't make me drag you out there. You know I will," she threatened.

Shura sat up and glared at her, "Fine."

"I knew you'd see it my way…" she said airily, sauntering back out into the hallway.

Shura followed her closely and sat next to her at the table, Kurama and Shuuichi at the other end.

"I'll be cooking tonight, Botan," Kurama offered. "You're a guest after all."

"If you insist," the ferry girl smiled.

"So, Shuuichi," Botan prompted, looking at the brown-haired boy, "now that we all know each other, how about we all eat lunch together? That is, if you aren't tied down to any other group."

Shura's eyes widened as he did a double take. He looked at Botan, feeling rather betrayed.

She gave him a reassuring smile, but his countenance did not change.

Shuuichi looked surprised, but not unpleasantly so. "That would be fine, I guess."

"Great!" Botan said.

"Terrific," Shura mumbled to himself, crossing his arms.

"So, how was your day, Kurama?" Botan asked.

"Well, I skipped class to go and investigate a barrier problem," Kurama said while tying his hair back into a ponytail.

"A barrier problem?" Botan exclaimed. It was the first she had heard of it.

"Yeah. I called Koenma about it, too. He said Hiei was taking care of it though. Some low level demons were slipping though and bringing humans back with them," Kurama explained.

Botan gasped. "That's terrible!"

"A friend of Shuuichi's was taken last night, too," Kurama added.

The ferry girl looked at the teenager. "I'm sorry."

"You two might have seen him," Shuuichi said, addressing his stepbrother's guests. "He was working at that ice cream place you were at yesterday."

"Makoto?" Botan asked, recalling the shy boy and feeling worse now that she could put a face on one of the victims.

Shuuichi nodded.

An awkward silence settled between the four of them, the sounds of Kurama bustling about over the stove the only noise to be heard.

"What did you do all afternoon, Botan? Relax?" Kurama asked after a while.

"Actually, I went to go see Hinageshi," Botan babbled happily, smiling at the thought of the petite ferry girl. "I told her about all that's going on with Shura. She offered to help, too, so I hope you don't mind that I gave her your address just in case."

"That's fine with me," the fox said, opening a bag of salad. "It would be nice to see her without having demons to deal with get in the way of conversation."

"Who's Hinageshi?" Shuuichi asked before Shura could.

"Just another ferry girl," Botan answered. "But, she stays here in Ningenkai guarding the Kasane Shrine."

"Guarding it?" Shuuichi questioned. "What's there to guard?"

"Oh, nothing," Botan said, brushing him off. "That smells great, Kurama!" she complimented, changing the subject.

**OOOOO**

Hiei grumbled to himself as he stepped out of the regeneration tank as naked as the day he was born. Shiramine was there to greet him, the old demon immediately thrusting a towel in Hiei's direction. The fire demon snatched it out of the doctor's hands and began to towel off his hair, which was now matted down to his shoulders.

"You were supposed to cover yourself," Shiramine remarked, averting his eyes and going over to check on the human boy.

Hiei grunted a response and continued to dry his hair.

"Oh my!" Mukuro lightly exclaimed while walking into the infirmary. "That's certainly surprising."

Hiei immediately wrapped the towel around himself.

"Good evening, Lady Mukuro," the doctor said, bowing his head to her.

"And a fine evening it is, Shiramine," the lady of the fortress returned, giving Hiei a pleased grin. "How fares the human boy?" she asked, getting down to business.

The doctor spared the boy's tank a glance. "He'll recover shortly. I foresee no problems."

"Good. And Hiei?"

"A fine specimen of one hundred percent healthy demon, as I'm sure we've all seen," Shiramine reported in his most professional voice.

Mukuro nodded. "When the boy wakes up, escort him to either myself or Hiei. After that, tell Goro to cover for you. Take tomorrow off."

"Thank you, my lady. Expect him in another…" he gave the boy's monitor another glance, "hour or two."

"Now, Hiei," she turned to her heir, "put some clothes on and walk with me."

**OOOOO**

_"Hey there," he had heard, a muted sound penetrating the depth of his unconsciousness and awaking him._

_ His eyes opened suddenly and took in his strange surroundings. He was in a sparsely furnished room, what little decoration there was to be seen appearing to be at least fifty years old. There were several candles lit on the other side of the room, giving the walls a reddish glow._

_ "Uh, hi?" he said to the newcomer, the woman in question leaning over him with concern in her eyes, her long brown hair tickling his face._

_ "Oh, thank goodness you're alive," she breathed out, relieved. _

_ He blushed when she smiled at him, sitting up and backing away slightly to lean against the wall. "Y-yeah, I am." _

_ "When those monsters threw me in here, I thought they had already killed you. But," she said, bringing her hand up to touch the red spot on his forehead, "it seems you only bumped your head."_

_ "I g-guess so," he stammered, his blush intensifying._

_ The woman laughed. "No need to be so shy around me. I'm probably too old for you."_

_ He chuckled along with her. That was twice today he had heard that. Or had it been twice in two days? "How long have I been here?" he asked._

_ "Oh, I'd say about ten hours," she said after looking at her watch. "I heard about you on the news last night. Victim six. Then I just happened to be taking a shortcut to the shrine and BAM!—I'm victim seven. Nice to meet you." She extended her hand to him._

_ He hesitantly reached out to shake it._

_ "Really though, I'm Azami," she said with a small laugh._

_ "Makoto," he answered in turn._

_ She scooted over to sit beside him, fixing her wrinkled hakama as she leaned back. "Might as well get comfortable. We may be here for a while," she said, kicking off her wooden sandals and flexing her toes._

_ They sat in a companionable silence, each glad for the company of the other, despite the fact that they had just met._

_ "How old are you, anyway?" she asked him, hoping to start some sort of conversation._

_ "Thirteen."_

_ Azami whistled. "Ten years. I'm definitely too old for you. You in junior high school?"_

_ "High school, actually," Makoto answered, feeling awkward._

_ "One of those super smart kids, huh?" the woman teased._

_ "No, not really," he said quietly._

_ "Modest, too."_

_ Makoto went red. "Enough about me. Do you work at a shrine or something?" he asked, noticing her attire._

_ "Yeah. Family thing. I don't really want to, but I don't have many options at the moment, you know," Azami said with a frown. "You hungry?" she suddenly asked, hearing his stomach rumble and more than happy to change the subject._

_ "Yeah," Makoto answered, slightly embarrassed._

_ Azami brought her purse out to her lap and stuck her hand in, humming to herself as she searched for something. Moments later, she pulled out a granola bar._

_ "Here you go," she said, handing it to the boy._

_ "But it's yours," Makoto protested, giving it back to her._

_ Azami smiled softly. "It's okay. I'm sure you didn't even get a change to eat dinner before you were snatched." She knew she was right. "I'm on a diet, anyway. Watching my girlish figure and all of that," she lied._

_ "But…"_

_ The brunette gave him a stern glare._

_ "Thank you," he said, taking the bar out of her hand._

_ She ruffled his dirty blonde hair. "You're a sweet kid."_

_ Though Makoto tried his hardest to pace himself, the granola bar was gone within minutes._

_ He heard Azami rearrange herself at his side. She removed her thin coat and bunched it up in her lap. "Lie down," she told him._

_ "But…" he began to protest, but decided against it, feeling as if he was rejecting a gift, "Okay."_

_ Azami started to run her hands through his hair in a soothing manner, "You should try and sleep. Never know when we're going to get a change to bust out of here." She was joking, but there was always hope._

_ "If you say so…" he mumbled, already feeling his eyelids become heavier._

_ Azami hummed softly, lulling him into a light sleep. _

_ Makoto had no idea how long he had dozed off for, but he was suddenly roused by noises outside of the door. He felt Azami pull him close, cradling his head protectively. "Dammit, he's just a child…" he heard her whisper. _

_ "What's going on?" he asked the woman._

_ "Oh, you're awake…" she said. "I think we'll be having some visitors soon."_

_ She gently eased Makoto off her lap and slipped her sandals back on. Standing up, she surveyed the room in the dim candlelight. She walked over to the far side of the room and picked up a piece of wood that had broken off the window frame. She swung it around a few times and smashed it against the wall, pleased that it left a dent._

_ The noises—multiple voices—got louder and the door swung open.__Three demons entered, the smallest two trailing behind the leader._

_ "Kage, you can't!" one of the underlings said imploringly. "Yemon will kill us if we let you."_

_ "I do just about as much work as he does, and somehow he thinks he can just get a whole one to himself. I'm sick of it," Kage answered, stepping forward to the two humans. "Besides, that bastard isn't even here right now, so he won't even find out, will he?" Kage sneered, giving the other two a threatening look. _

_ "O-of course not," they chimed together._

_ "Good," the biggest demon said concisely, stepping forward and grabbing Makoto by the hair, dragging him close and taking a deep whiff. He licked the boy across his cheek and then smacked his lips together. The human flinched and tried to pull away._

_ "Hey! Ugly!" Azami shouted, chucking the hard window frame at the back of the demon's head and causing the beast to stumble forward._

_ Kage reeled around and snarled at her, tightening his grip on Makoto._

_ Her pale purple eyes widened suddenly, but she shook the fear off and stomped her feet in retaliation. "Why don't you take me instead? Look at him! He's far too skinny to make a decent—" she stopped abruptly, the consequences of her words hitting her full force, "…meal out of."_

_ Kage narrowed his eyes at her, smiling. "If you insist, missy…" He threw Makoto at her feet._

_ Azami knelt down beside him, lifting him up and moving to stand in front of him. The boy clung to her arm. _

_ "He's going kill you," Makoto whispered, pulling her back to him. _

_ Azami resisted the urge to laugh. "I know," she said, pulling herself out of his grip. She turned around and gave him a kiss on the cheek, his tears staining her lips. "Hold on to this for me, will you?" She slipped a necklace over his head. "Family heirloom. Don't want to put it to rest in this dammedable place," she explained. Mustering a final smile, Azami walked over to the demons._

_ "Ladies first," Kage said while smiling, his rows of teeth visible in the dim light. _

_ "How polite," Azami chuckled at him, holding her head high as she walked through the doorway._

_ The slamming door knocked Makoto out of his reverie. He touched his cheek and slumped to the floor. He never even thanked her._

_ Standing up suddenly, he charged at the door, falling to the floor from the impact._

_ "Knock it off!" one of the demons from before ordered._

_ "Bring her back!" Makoto screamed in return while continuing to beat against the door._

_ He pounded the unmoving wood until his fists turned red and yelled until he was hoarse. Defeated, he dropped to the floor, breathing hard. He sat there with his ear to the door for what felt like hours, the breathing of his two guards the only sounds he could hear. No screams. He could not tell whether he was thankful or not. Later, he heard a commotion followed by his guards running away. Feeling that either it was now or never, he picked himself up and rammed the door as hard as he could. It did not move. Fuelled by adrenaline, he tried again, falling into a steady rhythm of charging the door. As he moved back for another strike, he heard the doorknob turn._

_ "Is someone there?" Makoto asked, stepping close to the door._

_ "Yes," A voice answered. "Stand back. I'm going to knock the door down."_

_ "O-okay…" Makoto answered, going to pick up the piece of wood Azami used to defend him. He moved to the left side of the doorframe, positioning himself to strike. _

_ Makoto swung as soon as the demon entered, but the black clad man dodged at the last second._

_ "What do you think you're doing?" the demon seethed at Makoto._

_ "Umm… Nothing?" Makoto answered, unsuccessfully concealing the weapon behind his back._

_ "I suggest you don't try anything like that again if you value your life," the demon warned him._

_ Despite the rocky start to their acquaintanceship, the demon guarded Makoto on their way through the old manor. The human boy peeked into the rooms as they passed, hoping to find Azami. Perhaps she had escaped in the ruckus and was waiting for him with open arms. They could return to their homes in peace and maybe she would visit him at work and he could give her a discount and then he could sit and talk to her on his break and she would let him keep her necklace because it would stay in the family anyway if she could stand to wait until he grew up and then—_

_ "Azami!" Makoto exclaimed, seeing her emerge from the doorway at the end of the hall. _

_ She looked at him and froze, eyes imploring him to go no further._

_ Unheeding, Makoto ran to her, and then through her. _

_ When he entered the room, he screamed and threw himself at the demon on top of Azami's cooling body, bringing his bludgeon down to strike the surprised monster. Kage retaliated almost immediately and released the woman's entrails from his mouth, slashing at Makoto and knocking him back into the wall. The human tried to shove him away, but was unsuccessful. The demon's mouth reeked of decay, and blood splattered out over Makoto's clothes and face. Makoto felt the thick liquid trickle down his face and into his open mouth, the knowledge that it was Azami's making him nauseous. He felt the demon sink its teeth into his shoulder, the memory of the searing pain awakening him with a start._

When Makoto regained consciousness, he wondered briefly if it was all just a dream. He was still dressed in his uniform, the tears and bloodstains present telling him that Azami had indeed been real. Bringing his hand up to scratch his head, he noticed that his hair was wet. Azami's necklace was placed on a table to his left. He grabbed for it immediately and cradled it close before putting it back on.

"Good evening," a voice from his right greeted.

Makoto jumped and turned to face another demon—a rather plump looking fish man. "Hi…" the human trailed off uneasily. Where was he now?

The old fish man set down the book he was reading and walked over to his patient, taking the human's arms into his hands. "Does it hurt when I do this?" he asked, raising the injured arm at different angles.

"No."

"Good then. You're fixed," the demon said simply, letting Makoto's arms fall into place. "Now, follow me."

Seeing no other alternative, Makoto unsteadily rose to stand and followed the demon out of the room.

Makoto trailed a few steps behind the demon, noticing with mild amusement that his escort had a blue tail that would flip back and fourth as the demon would walk.

"Excuse me," the fish man said to a passing demon that appeared to be dressed for combat. Makoto started at the sight of this ferocious looking newcomer and stepped closer to his escort.

"Shiramine," the guard greeted with a slight tilt of his head.

"Might you know the whereabouts of our lady and lordling?" the doctor inquired.

"The last time I saw them was when they were leaving your company earlier this evening. I'm sorry," the armored demon apologized.

"Not a problem. If you do see either of them before I do, tell them that the human boy is awake," Shiramine said, gesturing to the boy behind him.

"Yes, sir," the guard replied, continuing his patrol down the hallway.

Shiramine let out a sigh and cracked his knuckles out of habit. "I suppose we'll just have to start from the throne room."

**OOOOO**

"I don't need to go back there," Hiei said, trying his hardest not to sound so aggravated at the woman who meant so much to him.

"I do not recall saying that you _needed_ to go to Ningenkai. I only feel that you should. Really now, Hiei, we've been arguing about this for hours. What about this vexes you so?" Mukuro asked while setting down the papers she had been trying to read for the last hour to look her heir in the eye.

Hiei looked away and frowned.

"Oh, don't get that way with me. Are you worried that I'll need you in missions? Scared I'll replace you?" she questioned.

Hiei flinched. "You wouldn't."

Mukuro chuckled at him. He almost sounded worried. "Never."

"…Fine," the fire demon said moments later. "But I'll come back when I feel like it." He just had to have the final say sometimes.

His Lady rolled her eyes at him, but did not protest. "Perhaps you can bring me a souvenir."

"Would the prince's horned head please you? I would not mind it," Hiei offered, leaning forward onto his folded arms. "I could make his decapitation look like an accident."

"I have no place to put it on display," Mukuro joked with a disappointed air. "Besides, the last thing I want to hear is Lord Yomi complaining."

Hiei opened his mouth to respond but was cut off by a knocking at the door.

"Enter," Mukuro said, projecting her voice enough to be heard through the thick door of her private quarters.

Shiramine entered swiftly, Makoto trailing behind him. Mukuro stood to greet them, and gestured for them to take a seat at the table.

"How are you?" the Mukuro asked, looking at the stranger to her fortress.

"I'm… fine," Makoto answered shakily, staring at the woman across from him. She was quite beautiful, despite the fact that half of her face appeared to be marred beyond repair. She emanated an aura of being in charge.

"Wonderful. We will have you home by tomorrow," the regal looking woman told him. "Hiei here will be taking you," she said, gesturing towards the familiar demon who sat to her right.

Makoto's eyes lit up in recognition.

"Shiramine," she continued, "you are dismissed. Thank you for your time."

The old demon rose slowly and bowed. "You are quite welcome. It is my job, after all…" he said, pushing his chair in and leaving the room.

"Hiei," Mukuro said, looking at him.

"I know," the fire demon responded, reaching his arms back and untying his bandana. He pulled it off and placed it on the table. A third eye opened on his forehead.

Makoto flinched and unconsciously scooted backward.

"This'll only take a moment," Hiei comforted, his third eye widening.

Makoto suddenly felt exhausted, as if he had been running for years. His eyelids drooped, and he slumped forward onto the table. Fragments of memories raced across his mind. Walking home and being dragged into an alley. Wondering if he was ever going to see his aunt again. Waking up and meeting _her_.

Crying for her loss of life and his loss of her.

He felt rather numb, the pain from those memories being flushed out of his mind. He was going to lose her for good.

"Stop!" Makoto screamed, pushing himself away from the table and falling down to the floor as his chair tipped over.

Hiei blinked as the backlash of the breaking link hit him, bringing his bandaged arm up to massage his head.

"I don't know what you were doing to me exactly, but I won't let you do it!" the human exclaimed, standing up and lifting up the chair to use against the demon if he had to.

All three of Hiei's eyes stared at him blankly. Stupid human.

"Fine. You take care of him, Mukuro. _I'm_ on vacation," Hiei snidely remarked, passing the human as he left the room.

Makoto set the chair down, feeling silly. He looked over to Mukuro, who had made no move to attack. He could hear her laughing.

"You're quite lucky," the woman commented. "Whatever my dear heir saw in you must have done something. I suppose I will just write this off as you being Koenma's problem the second you stepped out of my hospital wing." She nodded to herself, and that seemed to be the end of discussion.

The human stood there, looking down at his feet.

Mukuro let her eye wander above the papers she had just picked up. "Please have a seat. I don't bite."

**OOOOO**

"Botan, do you think you could take Shuuichi home?" Kurama asked as the ferry girl headed toward the door, oar in her hand. "I don't want him out by himself so late."

"Of course," Botan said. "Just let me get outside so he can have some room to get on."

"…Is that safe?" Shuuichi questioned as he walked outside of the apartment and saw how exactly he would be getting home that evening.

"_No_," Shura answered before anyone else could, hearing Shuuichi's query from his seat in the living room.

"I _heard_ that!" Botan called from outside.

Shuuichi paled a little.

"Oh, it's fine," Botan reassured, patting the space behind her.

The human looked to his stepbrother for confirmation. Kurama laughed and nodded at him.

"You'll be here after school tomorrow, right Kurama?" the blue-haired girl asked.

"If I am not, you'll hear about it," the fox answered.

"Good. I'm going to report to Koenma tomorrow, just to give him a few particulars on how Shura's settling in. Just so you know…"

"Okay. I'll see you tomorrow then," Kurama said, waving at the two of them as they hovered above the balcony. "Bye, Shuuichi."

"Later, Kurama. I'll tell mom you're okay. Do you want me to tell her about your guest?" Shuuichi asked.

"No, no." The youko shook his head quickly, his red hair flailing from side to side in the ponytail. "I'll call her tomorrow."

"'kay."

"Hold on tight!" Botan yelled to Shuuichi as she shot off in the direction of the Hatanaka household.

Kurama waved until they were a speck of black in the distance, going inside and shutting the door behind him.

**OOOOO**

**Comments:** Another boring chapter. A lot of beating around the bush, I think. Hence the title. Sorry.

Um, yeah. OCs. If they're annoying, tell me. I try not to make them that way. I couldn't figure out how to put a canon character in that situation, so…

Hopefully, one more chapter of "present" stuff. Then I can jump ahead a bit and add the damn plot I had in my head when I started this silly thing.

Comments noted, and a few corrections will be made sooner or later. Thank you. :)

Does anyone know how to negate Quick Edit? I feel like an idiot with no indentations. And no equal sign spacers. Boldfaced Os are stupid. Wah, wah, wah…


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